If you are interested in learning more about living/investing/vacationing in this area: Below is
a Palm Beach Post article which gives you some
additional insight into this wonderful area. If you think the second-fastest growing city in the nation is grabbing headlines now, just wait a year or two. Port St. Lucie, which enjoyed a property value increase last year nearly double what any other large city has seen in Florida history, is on the cusp of a western explosion that, until now, has largely been ignored in growth tables. The 5,000-acre Tradition development, which may be joined by another 9,500 acres to the south in the coming weeks, recorded only 124 homes as of Dec. 31, when the county property appraiser tallied city values and determined the city had gained $1.6 billion in value in a single year. No homes existed in newly annexed areas when the U.S. Census
Bureau determined that, as of July 31, 2003, Port
St. Lucie was
gaining residents faster than all other large cities in the country
save one.
With 12,000 homes planned at Tradition and another 11,460 planned at
newly annexed PGA Village, North Pointe and two projects owned by Lennar
Corp. and Kenco Communities, the 6,053 single-family homes permitted
in the city last year will be overshadowed in the coming years as thousands
of new homes west of Interstate 95 join those being built in the city's
core to the east. Kolter Property Co. is gearing up for sales at its 3,026-acre development north of Tradition, to include 5,800 homes, three golf courses and a 350-room resort hotel, while developers of another 700 acres annexed recently hope to get a jump-start on the sizzling housing market before interest rates climb higher. North Pointe,
another community of 4,000 houses, townhouses and ranchettes
that was to sprout this year, has been delayed by a contract dispute
between the sellers and prospective buyers. Prices of once-worthless vacant building lots have soared to $50,000,
prompting the city to consider carving up small park sites into
building lots to capitalize on the frenzy. During the first six months of 2004, the numbers show no signs of slowing. In fact, construction is up 33 percent this year over last, with 3,548 permits issued as of June 30. Building officials say there's no end in sight, judging from the number of pre-application meetings they've had recently. "You can't drive down any street in the city and not see a new home going up," said Joel Dramis, technical services manager for the city's building department. "We've got a new building going up just to house all the additional inspectors we need." Building official Joe Salema is a little more direct. "I'm telling our guys, you've got enough work for 20 years," Salema said. "We've had so many pre-construction meetings with builders in these annexation areas, it's mind-boggling. I don't know when it's going to stop." The Census Bureau's news that Port St. Lucie was the second-fastest growing city in the nation between July 2002 and July 2003 has sparked new interest among retailers and corporations seeking new outlets. Core Communities employees are attending trade shows across the country to lure major corporations to planned office parks in Tradition and a 3,200-acre project to the south that the city could annex as early as this month. Reilly said he had dinner in Orlando Wednesday night "and everybody was amazed that we were No. 2 in the whole country. It was on the front page of USA Today. You can't buy that kind of publicity." Building inspectors are gearing up for the onslaught, nearly doubling their employees in the past two years and teaching employees to speak Spanish to adapt to the changing workforce. Large builders also are allowed to hire their own private building inspectors, speeding up inspections while the city retains oversight and the ability to spot-check all jobs. Part of the home-building spike is being fueled by out-of-town investors who have read stories about Port St. Lucie's remarkable growth and want to get in while prices are still affordable. Although many longtime residents think $50,000 for a lot and $180,000 for a medium-priced home seem outrageous in what was once a bedrock of affordability, the prices remain low compared with those in South Florida and the Northeast, from which most buyers hail. "A lot of builders have told me investors are coming in from as far away as California and Texas and giving them $1 million to build five or 10 houses," Dramis said. "The owner will rent them a year or two and wait for prices to go even higher before they sell them. It's a lucrative market, especially when you look at how prices are rising every few months." Indeed, prices of homes in Port St. Lucie and the rest of the Treasure Coast have soared since 2001, when the median price - the point at which half cost more and half cost less - of a house was $117,600. That figure rose to $133,200 in 2002, and to a staggering $187,800 this year, surpassing the statewide average for the first time, the Florida Association of Realtors reports. As long as interest rates remain near historic 40-year lows, experts predict the boom will continue through next year. "For those of us who have been here 30-plus years, we can't understand what the attraction is all of a sudden," Dramis said. "We don't have a beach, a museum or a Toyota plant. People in Stuart used to say you shouldn't buy property in Port St. Lucie, because it's going to be a slum. Now, it's the hottest place in the country." With Martin County's anti-growth mantra, experts say St. Lucie County was a natural for the next big housing boom north of land-starved Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Despite Port St. Lucie's obvious deficiencies inflicted by GDC - no downtown, houses built on major roadways, few commercial and office districts - the mixing of small and big homes has, in some cases, reduced the tendency for individual neighborhoods to fall prey to blight. Some believe that helps Port St. Lucie maintain the lowest crime rate among large cities in Florida, a factor Bob Moeckel considered when moving here in 2002. "My business partner and I were robbed at gunpoint 1 mile from Miami International Airport, and my friend of 30 years and his business partner were shot and killed" in 1998, Moeckel said. "I have sent out over 1,700 letters to businesses warning them of the dark side of Miami." Small-town feel remains Despite Port St. Lucie's meteoric rise from a population of 330 in 1970 to 116,000 today, it has maintained its small-town feel, a factor some fear it could lose as it zooms toward a projected population of 280,000 by the year 2022. That figure could climb to 340,000, nearly the population of modern-day Miami, if city council members vote this month to annex an additional 9,500 acres at the southwest quadrant of St. Lucie County. Sprawled over 97
square miles, Port St. Lucie is the fourth-largest city in Florida,
according to 2000 Census figures. It would zoom to 112 square
miles, tying second-place Tampa in size, if the council annexes
land southwest of I-95 and Gatlin Boulevard owned by Core Communities,
Ansca Homes and G.L. Homes of Florida. "It should help us bring jobs and industry here because companies will see we have the labor pool, and it's a desirable place to live," Minsky said. "It's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. It's the best publicity we could ever hope for." If you are interested in learning more about living/investing/vacationing in this area:
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