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Ironically, I got the feeling that the Stuart W-D was on the chopping block because they closed down the pharmacy inside the store about a year ago. A friend in the grocery biz told me that all the "extras" in the store (pharmacy, bank branch, etc.) typically disappear ahead of a store closure.
The long stagnant City Center property could be sold by the end of spring to a South Florida firm that specializes in revitalizing distressed real estate, City Manager Russ Blackburn said Monday.
Quote:
PORT ST. LUCIE — The long stagnant City Center property could be sold by the end of spring to a South Florida firm that specializes in revitalizing distressed real estate, City Manager Russ Blackburn said Monday.
The sales price for the 22 parcels covering 21 acres in City Center was not disclosed to him, Blackburn said during a break in the City Council meeting.
The 22 parcels have a market value of $5.5 million, St. Lucie County Property Appraiser records show.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission receiver overseeing the City Center land, Michael Goldberg of Fort Lauderdale, told city officials he is working on a contract to sell the land to David Garfinkle of Biscayne Atlantic, of Hollywood.
"It is my intent and desire to finalize the contract with Mr. Garfinkle and culminate a sale of the City Center to him," Goldberg said in a letter to Mayor Greg Oravec. "I will continue to work with Port St. Lucie towards that end and that it is my intention to accomplish this as quickly as possible."
Garfinkle has told city officials he intends to develop the property in accordance with the city's desire to create an entertainment district with a hotel that would set the stage for greater use of the facilities in the nearby Civic Center, Blackburn said.
Garfinkle seemed agreeable to the city's desire for new construction to start in 18 months to two years, Blackburn said.
Garfinkle also indicated he plans to build out the City Center project, Blackburn said. The plans include apartments, restaurants and stores.
Garfinkle is expected to meet with city officials to further discuss his plans after the sale closes, Blackburn said. His firm's specialty is turning around distressed and under performing real estate.
Goldberg is managing the assets the SEC seized from Lily Zhong, a Chinese businesswoman who bought the City Center land in January 2015. The SEC accused Zhong in November 2015 of making false and misleading statements while seeking investors for a Regional Trade Center she claimed to be building at City Center
Goldberg has sold almost all of Zhong's other holdings and wants to finish the job, Blackburn said. The deal needs approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The City Council made selling the City Center land one of Blackburn's top two priorities for 2018. The other is selling the defunct Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, which has been renamed the Florida Center for Bio-Science.
Oravec said he hopes development gets underway at City Center by fall 2019, when the Crosstown Parkway is set to open. The east-west parkway ends at U.S. 1 about a half-mile north of the City Center.
I think he meant in palm city off citrus in Martin county. I believe there was a recent article about a developer owning a huge chunk of land with some big plans but don’t have the link handy.
Also I believe technically your link is Southern Grove just marketed as tradition.
'New urbanist' plan for 4,200 homes west of Palm City gets a look | Gil Smart
Earlier this month I took a drive out Citrus Boulevard, west of Palm City. I looked at slash pines, saw palmettos and sable palms. And what I saw was the future.
Well, one man’s vision of the future. Knight Kiplinger, the Washington D.C.-based financial journalist whose family has long called Martin County its “second home,” wants to build 4,200 homes on some 3,417 acres — a 5.3-square-mile parcel that’s actually larger than Palm City or Hobe Sound.
All of which sounds faintly ridiculous. Kiplinger’s development, Pineland Prairie, would in effect be building a brand new small town. In Martin County, of all places — where you can’t knock over a blade of grass without someone moaning about “Browardization.”
How’s this going to work?
To listen to Kiplinger, and see his drawings, the answer is: perfectly.
MORE: Gil Smart: "New urbanism" coming to Martin County?
Kiplinger’s proposal will be the subject of a public hearing before the Martin County Local Planning Agency on Wednesday. Ultimately, the Martin County Commission will need to sign off; Kiplinger hopes the plan will go to the board in April.
Officials will consider comprehensive plan changes to accommodate the development; the county actually doesn’t have language in its zoning ordinances to allow Kiplinger to build the "Mixed Use Village" he wants to construct.
So, helpfully, he brought in planners to craft code he hopes the county will adopt, permitting neighborhoods “with a diverse mix of uses and housing types (that preserve) large swaths of open space.”
That, in a nutshell, is the plan for Pineland Prairie. But I’d driven out to Citrus Boulevard to get a gander at how, exactly, all this would fit into the landscape.
Citrus Boulevard is a pleasant “back door” into Martin County from Port St. Lucie, a sanguine drive. Kiplinger knows it. And in fact, he’ll keep much of it that way.
The property is shaped roughly like the state of Nebraska; just past Citrus Grove Elementary School, it borders Citrus Boulevard to the north. Here Kiplinger envisions “industrial neighborhoods” — light industry interspersed with homes, a community center, tree-lined public squares and corner stores.
Heading west/northwest, beginning at Boatramp Road, Citrus Boulevard bisects the remainder of the site all the way to the St. Lucie County line. But for the first mile or so, vistas would remain largely untouched, with open fields separating the new neighborhoods from the main artery. Cattle would graze in sight of the new rooftops; preserved wetlands would continue to provide shelter for critters like the 6-foot alligator we saw while there.
It wouldn’t be until you hit the center of town, the “Crossroads,” where you’d be out of the woods and into the heart of Kiplinger's "new urbanist" vision.
Here you’d have tree-lined streets and retail storefronts, a grocery store and a farm market with a water tower; a mix of old and new, the type of place where you want to park, get out and walk. That's the point of these “walkable” neighborhoods, which really don’t exist in Martin County right now.
Further north, near the St. Lucie County line, Kiplinger envisions community gardens lining Citrus Boulevard, along with 150 acres allotted to larger-scale agriculture. On the west/southwestern side of the road would be: nothing. A few trails; most of the area will stay exactly the way it is now.
All told, 30 percent of the site would be developed, with 70 percent — 2,000 acres — kept as open space.
That would make it the third-biggest "park" in Martin County.
--cut --- northwest of Citrus Grove Elementary, in Palm City. “The feedback I’m getting from my fellow citizens is that the time is right for something new,” said Kiplinger of the planned mixed-use village, which would occupy about 5.3 square miles (although only about 30 percent would be developed) and is projected to take between 25 and 30 years to complete.
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City Center land in Port St. Lucie could have a buyer
