Port Saint Lucie (Jacksonville, Miami, Port St. Lucie: oceanfront, relocating, gated)

[Leelee]

Hello my boss has family who lives in Port St. Lucie, Fl and he told me that the town is really nice. I researched it on the net and I have fallen in love with it. I am thinking of relocating from England and Port St. Lucie sounds like the ideal place.
Can anybody tell me about Port St. Lucie or the surrounding areas please. I would also like like to know the bad areas and places to keep out of.
Thanks,
Leelee

[julz]

Go to search and enter Port Saint Lucie.There are many recent discussions.

[pslOldTimer]

There are no bad places in Port St. Lucie. Really, it's true. The whole town is pretty much the same. There are some pockets that are even nicer, and some gated communities, one of which (Tesoro) has condos starting at about $1 Million and house from around $3 Million and up. But, most of the 151,000+ people live in nice, middle class housing -- regardless of race, creed or color. There is no difference, and no special neighborhoods for different folks.

Look up at the middle of the menu line above this page for the word "Search". Click it, then type "Port St. Lucie" into the blank. You will be rewarded with dozens of messages by me and a host of others folks, most good, a few not so good, but consider that the "not so good" ones are generally from folks who are negative about everything (there's a few of them on this forum ).

If you have any questions after reading all those, post another message and I'll do my best.

[DAVID_S]

Leelee, I live about an hour south of Port St. Lucie, but have been there countless times. It is a nice, middle class town, with basically a mix of all kinds of different people. When it was first being built, I didn't care for the area, but it has really turned well. In fact, my former next door neighbors were transferred there, and they love it.

The city planners and leaders seems to have a firm grasp on the amazing growth going on in the city. There are plans for a new downtown area, and numerous road improvements in the works.

The only part of St. Lucie County I'd steer clear of is Fort Pierce, a few miles north of Port St. Lucie.

[phf919]

I am planning temp move to PSL in Oct.....what is wrong w/Fort Pierce?

[pslOldTimer]

Folks that still think Fort Pierce is the pits are living in the past -- the city has enjoyed an incredible resaissance. The waterfront park is fantastic, the marina area is beautiful, the library is just a couple of years old, the entire 2nd Street area has been rebuilt, there are interesting restaurants, the Sunrise Theater has just undergone a multi-million dollar remodel and is now presenting world-class shows (it was once the largest movie theater between Jacksonville and Miami, and at 1200 seats is still a great location for live performances), there is great jazz -- Fort Pierce is a "happening" town.

However -- it is also a traditional Southern city. Unlike Port St. Lucie, which has no "sections" or "areas", Fort Pierce has an area in the NW section of the city which is home to many economically disadvantaged folks. Despite the best efforts of the city, there are still drugs and prostitution in that area. In this regard, however, it really isn't any different than most cities.

There was a time, over 35 years ago, when the schools were segregated and the "Good Ol' Boys" ran the city. Once again, that was typical of most of the South at that time. Fort Pierce may have started to work itself out of that era a little later than many other cities, but it is a different city, today.

We regularly shop and dine in Fort Pierce, as well as attend concerts at the Sunrise Theater and the Indian River Community College Peforming Arts Center. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a property in Fort Pierce, but like most older towns, I'd pick the area. There are some spectacular older homes in the SW section of Fort Pierce. They actually have organized a several-block square area where the homes are opened each year to see Christmas decorations. Yet, they are not the mansions of the super rich -- just nice, older homes, nicely decorated and loving cared for.

Speaking of Christmas, how many remember the Budweiser TV ad last year showing the house that had computerized Xmas lights playing to the rock music? Fort Pierce decorated the entire waterfront park with thousands of those computerized lights, hooked up massive speakers and had a spectacular light show to Xmas music by Mannheim Steamroller. You could walk around the park within the lights and have them dancing all around you. It was incredible.

Fort Pierce is definitely making the effort, and doesn't deserve the rap it gets from folks who have probably never been there, at least not recently.

[Turtle]

I agree! I love down town Fort Pierce, it is such a cute down town area, and of course just about any city no matter where it is has a bad area to it. Fort Pierce has some great beaches, a great little marine life aquarium place (I can't think of the name of it, but it was great), it's free on {i think} Tuesdays and we took my parents there when they were down visiting and it was great, we loved it. There's also some great little restaurants.

I think driving through the area, you'd be able to tell the less desirable areas to live just by seeing them or you can look at the newspaper where the local crimes are reported and see the areas that do have the drug problems etc.

[Leelee]

Hi everybody, thanks for replying to my forum, it has really helped and me and my family are going to look into transfering there. Thanks for all of your help, Leelee

[RAINBOWWAVES]

I agree with Oldtimer...there's really no bad areas here...but i disagree about FT Pierce...there's alot of bad areas there...Orange Ave is always in the news.

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by pslOldTimer

There are no bad places in Port St. Lucie. Really, it's true. The whole town is pretty much the same. There are some pockets that are even nicer, and some gated communities, one of which (Tesoro) has condos starting at about $1 Million and house from around $3 Million and up.

May I mention this? 6 months ago, I saw an AD for Tesoro in the newspaper! Is Tesoro oceanfront or intracostal? There has to be alot of special things when the cheapest house is 1.7m for ~2500 square foot! The bigger houses can be 3-5 million!