{"id":33389,"date":"2025-11-04T22:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T22:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/33389\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T22:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T22:12:11","slug":"why-this-new-waterfront-village-has-residents-excited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/33389\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this new waterfront village has residents excited"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 WPTV is always listening to your concerns over development across our area, but it’s not often that residents get together to promote added growth.<\/p>\n

In Martin County, a new neighborhood is set to rise in the community of Rio after years of neglect.<\/p>\n

WATCH BELOW: New waterfront village approved in Martin County community of Rio<\/p>\n

New waterfront village approved in Martin County community of Rio<\/p>\n

Michele Carlucci has been walking her dog Otis past the open plot of land along Dixie Highway in Rio for years.<\/p>\n

“Quiet, quaint. I go out after 8 p.m., and you don’t see a soul. It’s very peaceful,” Carlucci said.<\/p>\n

Still, she’s been hoping for some time that something exciting would come to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

“Some shops, maybe a couple of restaurants,” Carlucci said.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Martin County Commission approved Rio Marine Village, an amended mixed-use development along the Rio waterfront with apartments, retail and restaurants.<\/p>\n

\"Sign<\/p>\n

WPTV<\/p>\n

Sign for development in Rio neighborhood of Martin County<\/p>\n

Heavily damaged by hurricanes two decades ago, the Rio area was deemed an Opportunity Zone by then-Gov Gov. Rick Scott in 2018 to encourage development.<\/p>\n

In 2022,<\/a> WPTV met with JoLynne Jensen at her home in Rio as initial development plans were approved. She was excited then, and is even happier now.<\/p>\n

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, she was among those from the Rio Civic Club speaking in favor of the amended plans.<\/p>\n

“It will be an impetus for development, redevelopment. New businesses moving in, new residences being built,” said Jensen.<\/p>\n

Developer Charles Modica told WPTV reporter Jon Shainman that this project was about collaboration, and he didn’t want a gated community cutting off public access to the natural beauty of the area.<\/p>\n

“(We want to build a) village that they are part of, and the public is part of, to get to the water,” Modica said.<\/p>\n

Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 WPTV is always listening to your concerns over development across our area, but it’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[28,1160,171,173,172,23414,23413,179,12758],"class_list":{"0":"post-33389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-martin-county","10":"tag-port-st-lucie","11":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","12":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","13":"tag-rio","14":"tag-rio-marina-village","15":"tag-treasure-coast","16":"tag-wptv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33389","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=33389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}