VERO BEACH — Marvin Carter, 75, says he will never forgive his grandfather for not buying land on the barrier island in the early years of the 20th century when it sold for practically nothing.
“I could have been a playboy,” Carter jokes.
His grandfather, Robert D. Carter, did buy one government lot for back taxes where Summerplace is now, but failed to hold onto it.
“He resold it for $100 an acre and ‘made a killing!'” Carter says with a shake of his head.
The 60-acre parcel Robert Carter flipped for $6,000 way back when would be worth tens of millions of dollars today, even at post-boom prices.
Despite his lack of foresight in that case, Robert D. Carter did all right for himself, founding a consulting, surveying and civil engineering company — responsible for much of the county’s infrastructure –that recently celebrated its 100th anniversary.
“It would be hard to find a corner of Vero Beach that Carter Associates hasn’t touched,” says Mayor Pilar Turner, herself a civil engineer.
“We had about 300 people who signed in for the anniversary party,” says George Simons, a public engineer who has worked for Carter Associates, Inc. for nearly a quarter century and been president of the company for the three years. “We had a nice reception with food a couple of bars. It was a good turnout and a great evening.”
Robert D. Carter arrived here in 1911 after learning his trade in North Carolina to access the development potential of what later became Indian River County.
“Most of Vero Beach was swamp,” Marvin Carter says. “There was a low ridge where the railroad track is and another ridge out near I-95, and there were high hammock areas, but much of the land was underwater.” A group of investors from Davenport, Iowa, employed Robert D. Carter to see if it was feasible to develop the area.
When he submitted his affirmative report, the group bought 55,000 acres for $3 an acre and hired him to survey and drain it.
Most of the land around Vero Beach is about 20 feet above sea level according to Marvin Carter.
Taking advantage of that slight elevation, his grandfather laid out the main canal that starts out near 66th Avenue along with a series of secondary and tertiary canals in a branching structure sloped toward the lagoon that drained off the swamp water, creating dry land that could be plated, sold and developed.
The Carter family homesteaded 80 acres west of Wabasso in 1913, adding hundreds of acres to the parcel over the years and opening a dairy that supplied milk to many of the county’s 5,000 residents during the 1930s.
Born in 1936, Marvin Carter remembers growing up on the family farm during WWII, listening to stories told by Coast Guardsmen and pilots from the naval air station who were invited for Sunday dinner.
He also saw crashes when planes went out of control.
“They were training dive bombers at the airport and they went down all over the place,” he says. “Sometimes they would drop flares suspended under parachutes if they lost a plane at night. This was during war rationing and the parachutes were silk. My mother made silk pajamas and underwear and all kinds of things from that material.”
Marvin Carter’s father E.E. Carter joined and eventually led the family business, as did Marvin, in his turn.
State Rep. Debbie Mayfield showed up at the anniversary party to present a proclamation stating, “Carter Associates, Inc. professional and personal contributions to our community have benefited us all and made the Treasure Coast a better place to live.”
In Robert Carter’s time those contributions included staking out the original street plan of downtown Vero Beach, then called Indian River City, putting in the first sewer system, assisting in construction of the early bridges to the island and laying out the road that is now State Route 60.
E.E. Carter was the first elected Indian River County surveyor.
He designed the original Vero Beach airport and served 18 years as county road and bridge superintendent.
More recently, the company laid out Riomar, Sea Oaks and a number of other island subdivisions. It continues to do drainage and site engineering work in the 32960 area.
“We did the engineering for the U.S. Trust Bank building and redid the foundation of the Ocean Grill after it was undercut in a hurricane,” says Simons.
The company also engineered the Vero Beach High School renovation, which involved new buildings, remodeling older buildings and giving the campus a comprehensive facelift.
“That was kind of a landmark project,” Simons says.
Current projects the company is involved with include repaving 26th St. and building a 120- bed skilled nursing facility now nearing completion in Indian River Estates.
Site evaluation and feasibility studies, land development planning, mortgage, boundary and topographic surveys, residential, commercial and industrial site planning and storm water control are some of the company’s professional services.
“We help clients with due diligence to see if a project will work on a particular site, taking into consideration zoning, traffic, drainage and other factors,” says Simons. “Once they get our report and decide to go for it, we can take the project through the permitting process, do the site design and lay out the footprint of the building.
“Of course there is an architect involved in the design of the building, but we work with the architect to site the building on the property, do parking layout, roads, sewers, all those kinds of things. We deal with local and state government agencies to get all the permits.
“Once permits are granted, we can put together the contract documents that go out for bids, open the bids, evaluate them and make recommendations to the client.
“We provide construction administration services if a client wants us to, managing the project and making sure the site preparation work is done to specs.
“We’re flexible and can enter the development process at any point but it works best if we start from the beginning. That way we can help clients maximize a site’s potential.”
Simons says the company does about 60 percent of its work for government entities and 40 percent for private developers.
Government work is done through continuing service contracts. Companies like Carter Associates submit their qualifications and are approved for certain types of work. Government entities then select the firm that seems best prepared for a particular project from that pre-qualified group.
“We have service contracts with City of Vero Beach, Indian River County, the School Board, City of Fellsmere and a number of drainage and water districts,” Simons says. “That includes the Indian River Drainage District. We have been the district’s chief engineers since it was formed in 1920.”
Simon says the company’s extensive knowledge of local topography and network of relationships give it a distinct competitive advantage.
“When a project comes up, a lot of times we are already familiar with the site and may have surveyed it,” he says. “We have developed long-term relationships with the permitting districts and agencies. We meet with them and explain what the project is going to be about and get their feedback before applying for permits.”
The company has an impressive list of repeat clients.
“We pride ourselves on that,” Carter says. “The Sextons and Michaels and most of the other pioneer families have been with us since my granddad’s time and are still clients today.”
Besides leveraging its long history in the area, the company also employs the most up-to-date electronic surveying equipment and engineering software to stay in the forefront of its field.
“You can’t just stay where you are,” Simons says. “You have to keep getting better and more efficient all the time, especially in these tough economic times. We try to look forward to what our clients will need and be there ready to help them when the time comes.”
Hit hard by the real estate downturn like everyone in development and construction, Carter Associates now employs 22 people, about half as many as during the boom, but Marvin Carter remains optimistic.
“We just had this wonderful 100- year anniversary and I am hope we will be celebrating another 100 years a century from now.”
“It is a remarkable accomplishment,” says Mayor Turner of the company’s first 100 years. “I congratulate them on their success and service to our community.”
“It is something to be proud of,’ says Simons.