FORT PIERCE \u2014 The Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency Board voted unanimously Oct. 21 to approve purchasing the property at 1238 Avenue D adjacent to the city-owned Jackie L. Caynon Sr. Building that\u2019s currently being remodeled for the Highwayman Museum in order to create a public outdoor plaza for future receptions and other events at the museum.<\/p>\n
Staff have been working toward that goal ever since the FPRA first got wind of the potential availability of the parcel on March 11, which was actually blocking connectivity between the future museum and the city-owned corner piece at 13th Street designed as a public plaza and potential museum parking lot. Board Member Curtis Johnson Jr. brought up the idea during that meeting, and the FPRA voted unanimously during its subsequent March 31 meeting to authorize Johnson to order an appraisal of the property and its one-story structure in need of repairs.<\/p>\n
Fort Pierce City Manager Richard Chess introduced the agenda item on the $150,000 purchase during the latest meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a critical piece of property that we want to acquire on Avenue D,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helps us align with the plans we have related to the Highwayman Museum, and there\u2019s other parcels there we think will benefit our vision of that corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Michael Broderick immediately posed a clarification question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho handled the negotiations on this?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, I did along with Shyanne Harnage,\u201d Chess replied in reference to the city\u2019s Community and Economic Development Department director.<\/p>\n
Broderick then lauded the pair on their negotiation skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood job guys \u2013 this is a good acquisition for the city,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to get into detail on that discussion point because it\u2019s not under agreement yet. However, this acquisition rounds out that particular corner. I\u2019ve had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time in that [Jackie L. Caynon Sr.] building and have observed the conditions of the property next door.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board Member Broderick reminded the city manager that his company regularly purchases and refurbishes such properties and that he wanted the chance to analyze what needs to be done as soon as the deal goes through.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m going to request Mr. Chess is the opportunity to get in there and see the condition and what we\u2019re going to need to do to stabilize that property,\u201d he explained. \u201cI know, for example, it needs a new roof system. I observed that from the second floor of the Highwayman Museum building. I also noticed some minor structural deficiencies on the exterior that are going to be dealt with, but I\u2019d like the opportunity to get in there and take a look around. I can give my thoughts to the Commission once I get eyes on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board Member Johnson echoed the sentiments of both the city manager and his colleague before making a motion to approve the purchase.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think as we create that whole engagement opportunity with the Highwayman Museum, this is a critical piece,\u201d he said. \u201cThank you staff for the work that you did quite quickly to bring this to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board Member Arnold Gaines seconded that motion, which then passed unanimously. The same day, the FPRA also agreed to purchase a $25,000 mural for the eastern wall of the Jackie L. Caynon Sr. Building at 1234 Avenue D from the West Palm Beach-based firm Street Art Revolution LLC. After the clerk read the agenda item title, Board Member Broderick expressed a particular concern about the mural artwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe timing on this is my only concern,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are still under heavy exterior construction in the parking lot areas and in theory the areas behind the building where we\u2019re going to be moving a lot of equipment and dirt and asphalt. There\u2019s a lot of moving parts going on out there. I\u2019m just suggesting that we would get through that and then start with this, which is really kind of the icing on the cake so to speak. We wouldn\u2019t want to get it installed and have it damaged by whatever we\u2019ve got thrown around out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Special Projects Coordinator Audria Moore then came to the podium to alleviate his fears.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan is to wait,\u201d she said. \u201cThe reason you have this here 1762322303 is because I wanted to get it approved so when the work is done on the parking lot, they can then just go ahead and move in. The contractor\u2019s coordinating with the artist, so that he can let them know when it would be appropriate for them to come in and begin the mural on the building.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FPRA then voted unanimously to approve the mural from the minority-owned business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2014 The Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency Board voted unanimously Oct. 21 to approve purchasing the property…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":{"0":"post-33925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","11":"tag-st_lucie"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33925","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=33925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}