DEVELOPMENT
He noted that bids have been solicited for 1.1 million square
feet of distribution facilities at Crossroads.
“They’re building spec, but I suspect they have a brand-name
tenant in mind. We’re not privy to any particulars yet, but I know
they have had some interest.”
PROMISING JOBS
Another giant commercial/residential and shopping destination
include more than 1,000 parking spaces for employees, loading
bays for trucks and 390 drop-trailer parking spaces.
Again, the name of the tenant is confidential, Tesch explained,
but local rumors that a very prominent online retailer will occupy
the space are hard to avoid.
As Jill Marasa, the EDC ‘s vice president of business retention
and expansion, noted, “as the parking lot tells you, it will be a lot
of jobs. This is a very large and complex project. It is on a very
rapid time frame.”
Close by, the LTC Ranch housing development has been an onagain,
the auspices of national homebuilding giant D.R. Horton Homes.
The company plans 4,000 single and multifamily homes and other
development on the site.
A little further north, south of Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce,
Seefried Development of Atlanta is planning a 650,000-square-foot
industrial and warehousing facility.
Not much further north, Ashley Capital of Atlanta, one of the
nation’s largest real estate investment companies, is seeking to
acquire the 550-acre Treasure Coast Research Park off Kings Highway
warehousing, e-commerce and manufacturing users.
“It’s all pretty phenomenal in my mind,” Tesch admitted. “Over
the next 12 to 18 months we’ll be seeing major developments on
almost every I-95 interchange between Fort Pierce and Becker
Road. It’s the first time in my career I could be accused of helping to
create too many jobs!”
Tesch noted that 60 percent of St. Lucie County’s workforce travels
commercial development in St. Lucie could be an opportunity to reverse
Port St. Lucie City Manager Russ Blackburn has been at the helm
of the city’s efforts to attract jobs to the city.
FIRST BIG INVESTMENT
Blackburn traced the beginning of the popularity of the Tradition
there in 2020. Port St. Lucie competed against Charlotte, North
Carolina, and Dallas for the development of a 410,000-squarefoot
center, he said.
“That was really the first big investment we had competed for,”
Blackburn said. “Then it snowballed after that. The city had the
opportunity to take over the Jobs Corridor from Tradition Land
Co., successor to the original developer of Tradition.”
Rather than selling the 1,140-acre corridor as one package, as
its former owners had unsuccessfully attempted, the city decided
to sell off individual parcels.
“It made a huge difference having a large footprint for big
industrial and warehousing clients,” Blackburn recalled.
8
at the intersection of I-95 and Midway Road is on the drawing
board. LTC Ranch Industrial will house a more than 1 millionsquare
foot single-user distribution center on 108 acres that will
off-again project since the late 1990s. It is a go again under
to develop it as a Class A+ commerce park for distribution,
outside the county for work. He believes the upcoming wave of
that daily flow and keep some of those people closer to home.
Jobs Corridor to the decision of Tamco/City Electric to build
lighting fixture manufacturing facility and distribution
CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE
The proposed LTC Ranch Business Park, which will straddle I-95 at West Midway
Road, is expected to become the home of a 1 million-square foot logistics
and fulfillment center for an as-yet unnamed company.
After success with Tamco and several other manufacturing
and distribution successes by ACCEL International electrical
wire manufacturers and Oculus Surgical, Blackburn said activity
picked up at the southern end of the corridor in what has become
Legacy Park.
“The EDC brought in Sansone Group,” Blackburn said. “They
proposed buying 65 acres and have an option on an additional
300 acres for a distribution and commerce park. Sansone has
been very successful in New Jersey and Indiana, and they have
very good national connections. We’re now seeing a critical mass
of large-footprint facilities that will offer above-average wages
and benefits.”
PSL SUCCESSFUL APPROACH
The city manager attributes Port St. Lucie’s success in attracting
developers of this caliber to its land bank, its proximity to major
markets and a business-friendly approach.
“City Electric chose us for exactly that reason,” he said. “We’re
committed to helping prospective companies in the development
process, in streamlining permitting and building inspections.
“It’s our trademark: We’re here to help you grow,” Blackburn said.
The Sansone Group’s Jeff Greenwalt would agree. He said
Sansone chose Port St. Lucie because it offered both the physical
space and a much faster development process than most competitors.
TCBusiness.com
While other cities can take 12 to 18 months to process
the paperwork, Port St. Lucie “has been unbelievably helpful —
90 to 120 days, which is unheard of,” Greenwalt said.
The FedEx project actually took only 108 days to gain site plan
approval.
Both Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie County have adopted streamlined
permitting and expedited site plan review processes for
targeted industries.
Blackburn said the city and county do offer new companies tax
breaks, but newcomers only receive 100% relief on property taxes
for five years. After that, tax advantages progressively reduce.
“That helps them make a big investment, but it’s not the only
factor,” Blackburn said.
POTENTIAL TAX REVENUES
The exact results of new development in boosting the tax base
are unclear at the moment, Blackburn said, but prospects look >>
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