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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A new Costco distribution center will soon be constructed in Port St. Lucie, creating hundreds of jobs for the Treasure Coast.

The Economic Development Council (EDC) of St. Lucie County said the facility will be a cold and dry storage depot located at the Legacy Park at Tradition off Interstate 95 and Southwest Becker Road.

The site will eventually include two facilities totaling 1.87 million square feet and employ more than 500.

The site plan for the project was approved by the Port St. Lucie City Council on Dec. 4. The first phase consists of a 595,000-square-foot cold and dry storage facility, which the EDC said will employ 265 people at an average wage of $55,350 plus benefits.

Officials said construction of the facility's first phase will employ 549 people.

A 1.06-milllion-square-foot dry goods distribution center will be built in the second phase, according to the council. Two future expansion areas of 60,000 square feet for cold storage and 147,500 square feet for dry storage are included in the plan, according to an EDC news release.

"This is another great economic development project in the works," Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin said in a statement. "While this is a somewhat different Costco project than our city had worked toward in the past, the reality is that the jobs this Costco depot will bring us, at well above our county's average wage, will make a huge, positive difference in the lives of 265 local families and the lives of the many others these families touch — and that's for the first phase alone."

The Port St. Lucie City Council approved an incentive package for Costco on Monday. The package includes ad valorem tax exemptions for real and tangible personal property at 100% for the first five years, then at 90%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% for the next five years; mobility and impact fee mitigation and an opportunity for a Job Growth Investment Grant.

The new facility in St. Lucie County will replace a current Costco depot facility in West Palm Beach. The director of real estate for Costco Wholesale said at Monday's Port St. Lucie Council meeting that their West Palm Beach site, located near 45th Street and Florida's Turnpike, will be relocated since they had "maxed out their growth."

The first phase of the project is expected to take about a year and a half to complete.

Other facilities that exist at Legacy Park at Tradition include FedEx, Amazon and Cheney Brothers.

Despite discussion about a future Costco store eventually being built in Port St. Lucie, the only Costco approved to be constructed on the Treasure Coast is in Stuart. That store is tentatively slated to open in the summer of 2025.

"Bringing in ... a company like Costco into Port St. Lucie is really amazing," Jennifer Davis, the director of the Port St. Lucie Community Redevelopment Agency. "We hope that ... at some point in the future Costco will look at this site and see the benefit of not only having the distribution jobs here but also having the retail establishment here too."

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — Two facilities totaling roughly 1.87 million square feet, employing more than 500 people and requiring hundreds more just to build the depots, were approved by the Port St. Lucie City Council in early December. Sansone Group's Legacy Park at Tradition will be its home.

Phase One of the massive project is estimated to cost over $70 million.

The first phase in the multi-step plan includes construction of a 595,000-square-foot cold and dry storage facility. This building will require around 265 employees with an average income of $55,350, a news release said. Labor income from Phase One's construction is expected to exceed $25 million with indirect, direct and induced labor income surpassing $35 million.

"The reality is that the jobs this Costco depot will bring us, at well above our county’s average wage, will make a huge, positive difference in the lives of 265 local families and the lives of the many others these families touch – and that’s for the first phase alone," Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin said.

The cold and dry storage facility will cost around $55 million with equipment costing $16 million, according to the Economic Development Council (EDC) of St. Lucie County news release.

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Phase Two is another colossal undertaking: development of a 1.06-million-square-foot dry goods distribution center. Additionally, two future expansion areas for cold storage and dry storage buildings are part of the plan, sized to be 60,000 and 147,500 square feet, respectively.

President of the EDC of St. Lucie County Pete Tesch praised developments from the past five years in Southern Grove, a large 200-acre piece of land housing other manufacturing giants in Port St. Lucie.

What was once a "financial liability" is now a "vibrant jobs engine," benefitting the municipalities' residents for future generations, Tesch said about the Southern Grove area.

The mayor expressed her excitement about the addition of another globally recognized company coming to the area, which holds facilities for FedEx and Amazon. Local and regional employers are also in the same "Jobs Corridor," like OCULUS Surgical, TAMCO and Cheney Brothers, the news release said.

The Port St. Lucie City Council approved an incentive package Monday for Costco.

This includes tax exemptions for real and tangible personal property for five years at 100 percent. Once that time is up, it will decrease to 90, 80, 60, 40 then 20 percent for the next five years, according to the news release. Projects with incentives are still required to fully pay school, fire, voter-approved debt and other taxes.

PORT ST. LUCIE — A new "entertainment district" could be built in Southern Grove, near Tradition, after the City Council earlier this month voted to begin negotiations for a land sale with Tradition Entertainment District.

The potential buyer, a subsidiary of developer Piticopu, plans 100,000 square feet of shopping, entertainment facilities, restaurants and other accommodations, according to city documents.

It would be at Village Parkway and Pete Hegener Drive, directly west of where Costco Wholesale Corp. plans to build a 200-acre distribution depot. Piticopu would pay about $6.8 million for the 20 acres.

Bullish on Port St. Lucie

Piticopu already is developing four restaurants on a separate 5½-acre site nearby: Bonefish Grill, First Watch, Outback Steakhouse — and another not yet named — on Village Parkway at Innovation Way. Interest has been so high that "we need more space," company principal Gustavo Lumer told the council

"The whole idea is to bring more to Tradition," Lumer said. "We love the city, and we hope to do more business here."

Fits with the city master plan

The development fits within the city's initial 2018 plan and 2021 master plan for Southern Grove, Mayor Shannon Martin said.

"This is very exciting. I've got to say that, when we were doing our master plan all those years ago, this was one of the elements of the master plan that we were hoping for," Martin said.

More:Costco plans to move distribution center to Port St. Lucie from West Palm Beach

More:County passes Costco tax breaks; new job wages would be 121% of countywide average

The master plan calls for a number of large industrial and warehouse developments along Interstate 95, many of which already have been built or contracted.

It also includes mixed-use developments between those sites and Village Parkway, buffering the road and nearby housing developments from those facilities, Jennifer Davis, director of the city Community Redevelopment Agency, has said.

"They won't be industrial. Industrial is staying closer to 95, so you won't see industrial along that front corridor," Davis explained.

With property now committed for the entertainment district and Costco, there are only six available parcels left in Southern Grove, mostly along the strip intended for mixed-use development. The city is actively seeking proposals for what to do with three of the unsold lots, and expects at least five companies to apply, Davis said.

Meanwhile, Port St. Lucie will hold onto the other lots until necessary infrastructure work is completed, Davis said.

Wicker Perlis is TCPalm's Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com and 504-331-0516.

PORT ST LUCIE, Fla. — Tradition in Port St. Lucie could soon be getting an "entertainment district" full of fine dining and restaurants, nightlife, retail and more.

This month, Port St. Lucie City Council members voted to start a land deal negotiation with Gustavo Lumer, a real estate developer from Miami, for the 100,000 acre plot of land between Southwest Village Parkway and Interstate 95.

The district, if built, would be located north of the Amazon warehouse by the planned Costco Distribution Center.

"With so many homes coming to the area there’s a need for entertainment, a need for places to walk to dinner," said Lumer.

Lumer is already putting in four restaurants, including Bonefish Grill, Outback Steakhouse and First Watch on the empty plot of land near the Panda Express and Dunkin Donuts on Southwest Village Parkway.

"We ran out of room," Lumer told WPTV's Kate Hussey. "We have larger restaurants that want to come, more investment and some entertainment, some indoor sports."

The district would cost about $6.8 million dollars, which Lumer would fund. It's one of several parcels of land in that area that could be developed, and would likely rake in thousands if not millions of dollars to the county and city.

"It’s going to generate some great jobs," said Pete Tesch, economic development council director for St. Lucie County. "We are working with the developer through their site plan and development and we'll consider doing a detailed economic impact analysis once we know the capital investment, jobs and consumer spending habits."

Tradition resident Steven Widows was thrilled to hear about the potential plans.

"This area is growing tremendously, especially the past couple of years, and there’s not enough entertainment so to speak for it," Widows. said “I think having something local would be smart. Maybe a little nightlife action, maybe some shopping, a movie theater, a breakfast spot please?"

David Reeves, who moved to Port St. Lucie recently, said he saw both positive and negatives to the project.

"It's the way it’s wielded, whether for good or for bad," Reeves said. "With the development there’s going to be more congestion, more people, the roads are going to be harder to traverse."

Resident Trina Long, who has lived in Port St. Lucie since 1999, said she feared the added development would bring more congestion and confusion.

"The houses are being built so fast, people are coming and they can't keep up," said Long. "It's so congested and crowded, what used to be a 5 to 10 minute drive can be 15 or 20 minutes now."

Lumer addressed those concerns, and said he took traffic into consideration before planning the project.

He told WPTV's Kate Hussey that he partially chose the district's location because of its current infrastructure, not in spite of.

"It's an easy way in and an easy way out," Lumer, of Village Parkway, said. "We will build enough parking spots for everybody so there's plenty of space and we wont create a traffic jam.

"So, you don't foresee any backups that would be caused by a project like this?" asked Hussey.

"No, I don't think so," Lumer replied.

WPTV reached out to the city of Port St. Lucie, who declined to comment since no official project plan has been submitted.

However, in the city's meeting earlier this month, Mayor Shannon Martin said the plan fits in with the city's 2018 Master Plan.

Remember, nothing is approved yet aside from the city moving forward to negotiate a potential land sale.

If that eventually goes through, Lumer said the next step would be development.

Copyright 2024 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Two tornadoes touched down Monday evening on the Treasure Coast, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

They were reported after the NWS issued a tornado warning about 5:30 p.m. for St. Lucie and Martin counties and extended it through 6:30 p.m.

The first tornado appeared to touch down west of Interstate 95 and travel northwest to North River Shores, said meteorologist Cassie Leahy. Damage to trees and fences was reported near Woodbine Way.

The second tornado appeared to touch down near Becker Road and I-95, Leahy said. No damage was reported.

She didn’t know the strength of the tornadoes because meteorologists still are collecting damage reports.

Motorists on I-95 pulled off the side of the road for safety and to watch the dramatic images.

Area residents were urged to take cover and move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building and avoid windows.

Hundreds were without power as of 8 p.m. across the Treasure Coast, according to the FPL Power Tracker Map, including over 500 outages in Martin County and over 400 outages in St. Lucie County.

Heavy rain and strong winds continued in St. Lucie County through the early evening. A cold front will trigger more showers and storms on Tuesday.

The line of storms was from a front passing through that will cool off temperatures and lower humid conditions for the rest of the week, clearing the way for sunny skies in South Florida through Friday.

James Coleman is a journalist at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at jcoleman@pbpost.com and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JimColeman11. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm's entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Follow her on Twitter @TCPalmLaurie and Facebook @TCPalmLaurie. Email her at laurie.blandford@tcpalm.com. Sign up for her What To Do in 772 weekly newsletter at profile.tcpalm.com/newsletters/manage.