Construction continues to move forward on St. Lucie Public Schools’ new administration building despite a figurative bump in a planned road on the site.
Last June, the school district purchased a 10-acre site near Tutto Fresco Italian restaurant on Commerce Center Parkway in the area of Interstate 95 and PGA Village. Since then, the district has held its ribbon-cutting ceremony and commenced with construction. But the road the seller was expected to build hasn’t yet been done.
Mainstreet Village II was supposed to have the access road built by Oct. 31. That date was pushed back to Dec. 31. The new date? April, 1, 2019.
The reason for the delays has not been made public. It was not discussed during the recent School Board meeting when the board unanimously – and without discussion – approved the extended deadline as part of the consent agenda.
A request for more information from the school district was left wanting shortly before Christmas.
“The time extension for the road does not have an impact on the Building Project,” said spokeswoman Kerry Padrick in an email to St. Lucie Voice. “This is a separate project. We are still on track with the building timeline.”
Attempts to speak with the project coordinator were unsuccessful.
As it is, the school district placed nearly $640,000 in escrow as part of the purchase of the District Administration site. Those funds won’t be released until the roadwork is completed.
The school district is using a combination of insurance proceeds and sales-tax funds from the state to complete the nearly $18 million project. That cost does not reflect outfitting the office spaces with furniture and other equipment.
The School Board opted to build a new administrative headquarters following Hurricane Irma, which flooded the Orange Blossom Mall in Fort Pierce, where the School District’s administrative offices had been housed. The flood displaced 300 administrative personnel and forced the district to split departments over five or six sites around the county.
The administration office supports 41,000 students and 6,000 employees district-wide. The new 107,000-square-foot building will be three stories tall and be “the face of the district,” Deputy Superintendent Dr. Jon Prince told St. Lucie Voice earlier this year.
The district scouted properties it already owned but decided buying a raw piece of land near the emerging population center of Port St. Lucie would be the better solution. Located near Interstate 95 and the Florida Turnpike, as well St. Lucie West Boulevard, the property would be conveniently located for more employees district-wide.
