PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 The Government Finance Corporation Board members here approved a $6 million purchase and sale agreement March 9 that will realize a years-long community goal of wooing Costco to Port St. Lucie and place the city in a select group of 13 other communities around the United States to boast both a Costco retail store and a Costco distribution center.<\/p>\n
In 2019, while The Costco Corp. was struggling with Martin County and Stuart over its desire to build a location there, Port St. Lucie Mayor Gregory Oravec dangled a carrot in front of the company, offering it free land in Southern Grove to do so. While the company continued on and ultimately built a Stuart store, its officials did decide to locate a 1.8 million-square-foot Depot \u2013 or regional distribution center \u2013 in Tradition that is slated for completion this month.<\/p>\n
Community Redevelopment Agency Director Jennifer Davis formally announced the addition of a retail store during the recent GFC meeting, whose Board is composed of City Council members.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor your consideration is the purchase and sale agreement between the GFC and Costco Wholesale Corporation for 22.8 acres in Southern Grove near the southeast corner of the future Marshall Parkway and Southwest Village Parkway,\u201d she said. \u201cThe purchase and sale agreement provides for a purchase price of $6 million or $6.04 per square foot, [and] there is a $300,000 deposit. The permitted use is for up to 170,000 square feet of retail use as a wholesale and retail general merchandise facility. The inspection period is 90 days with a 270-day development approval period.\u201d<\/p>\n
That P&S agreement includes some specific requirements on the part of the city as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe GFC must cause, at its sole cost and expense, the construction and extension of Marshall Parkway so that a certificate of occupancy could be issued,\u201d she added. \u201cWe also have to provide confirmation to the buyer about the utilities, water and sewer adjacent available for hookup and provide approximately 40,000 cubic yards of fill dirt that is acceptable to the buyer.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Shannon Martin briefly interrupted Davis\u2019 presentation to pose a clarification question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are we at with Marshall Parkway?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are almost to second lift of asphalt, so at this point, the road can be driven on,\u201d Davis replied. \u201cWe anticipate that will be complete by the end of March. They\u2019re working on the landscaping as well, but that\u2019s not necessary for the road to be complete.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith regard to the fill, it\u2019s already onsite, correct?\u201d President Martin continued.<\/p>\n
In response, Davis pointed out that the fill dirt was already been on the property for the last two years during the Costco negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe memorialized that as part of the agreement,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe expect some of that has been disturbed a little bit with the construction of the adjacent roadway. Once we get into the agreement, our team will make sure that the sufficient amount of fill to meet the agreement is available. If this was not something we were providing to them, we would have to haul this dirt off of the property, which would incur a cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
That explanation prompted additional clarification by Vice-President Jolien Caraballo,<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not out of the ordinary for this deal,\u201d she said. \u201cAlmost every parcel we\u2019ve sold in Southern Grove has had something similar to this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s definitely not a first for us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have provided fill on other transactions. We\u2019ve had roadway connections that needed to be done on others, and utilities are typically a standard caveat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board Member David Pickett then expressed his gratitude that Davis and Caraballo had broached the topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to thank both of you for bringing this up,\u201d he said. \u201cAs Jennifer was talking, I was making notes to make sure the key points were reviewed so that they didn\u2019t get misconstrued. Marshall Parkway is just about done, the fill dirt\u2019s there [and] everything you\u2019re talking about is already in the works. It\u2019s not something we\u2019re giving away because it\u2019s already there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis, in turn, addressed the requirements imposed upon the city by the P&S agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically within a one-mile radius of the project, the city or the CRA would be restricted from selling any property that we own now or in the future to any of these entities,\u201d she explained. \u201cThese would be Sam\u2019s, BJ\u2019s, any other retail grocery or delivery service, alcoholic beverage retail or Wal-Mart, carwash, fueling stations or tire installation.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Martin wrapped up the presentation with some closing remarks and a reference to a Etta James tune that the city\u2019s elected officials have referenced and\/or sung in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be singing At last for this, she said. \u201cWe\u2019re super excited, and I know our residents are very, very excited. When the agenda came out last week, within minutes it was all over social media about Costco. I think there was some confusion to about whether it was actually the retail store versus the depot, but here we are. Now we are getting that retail store that we\u2019ve been waiting so long for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilman Anthony Bonna recalled the 2019 effort that he admitted was before his election to the Board.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember watching the Roll out the Red Carpet video offering them free land,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shows how far Port St. Lucie has come. People finally recognize what we are, and this is a big day. We were fighting for Costco to come here and now they\u2019re paying for their land and that\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The GFC Board then voted unanimously to approve the P&S agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 The Government Finance Corporation Board members here approved a $6 million purchase and sale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-191224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}