FELLSMERE — After months of tweaking the design to ensure that the chain store blended well with the Fellsmere’s old-town style, the Dollar General corporation has broken ground on its newest location on County Road 512 between MESA Park and Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.
Company representatives told Fellsmere city officials that, once completed, the store will bring 10 permanent retail jobs to the city. On top of that, there may be opportunities for construction workers, as well as subcontractor work as the plumbing, wiring, paving, lighting and final touches go on the store.
Dollar General is set to open in time for Fellsmere residents to do their Christmas shopping, but Vice Mayor Joel Tyson said that just the sight of bulldozers, front-end loaders and some dirt being moved around on the construction site is an early Christmas present for a city that’s been hit hard by the down economy.
“It’s big. I think it’s going to be a real boon to the community,” Tyson said. “Dollar General is one of Wal-Mart’s chief competitors. They’ve got a lot of perishables and so forth that you would normally buy at the grocery store. That will save people the 20-mile round trip to Sebastian to Wal-Mart.”
Tyson said having construction workers in Fellsmere will also help some of the local eateries because they will benefit from the lunch crowd. He said the Snack Shack just west of the construction site anticipates selling sandwiches and beverages to the workers.
As the Dollar General store is completed, Fellsmere will have another construction project breaking ground in December. The Hernandez family is in the permitting stages for a new center that will house a restaurant and four retail spaces on the corner of South Broadway and C.R. 512.
Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker is also working with grant writers and gas company officials to get a third major construction project going to extend the natural gas pipeline that runs through town from the Fellsmere City Hall on South Orange Avenue all the way out to the site of the Florida Organic Aquaculture company to heat the tanks where the shrimp and other products are raised. The aquaculture company has committed to hiring 52 people once the facility expands, and 29 of those jobs will be given to people of low to moderate income and only a high school diploma.
That project would pump more than $1 million into the local economy and would also make Fellsmere look more attractive to new businesses who could use the natural gas pipeline to reduce their electric bills.
