One year after Indian River Shores auctioned off a five-acre oceanside parcel to the Lutgert Companies, the Naples-based developer has submitted plans for a proposed luxury-home community called Surfsedge.
Plans show a 12-unit condominium spanning the east end of the parcel, built above ground-level parking so that it overlooks the ocean, with 12 single-family homes arranged along a private street occupying the space between the condo and A1A.
Lutgert executives said last year they hoped to break ground on the first model home around January 2018. At that time, the company was interested in purchasing a nearby property owned by Florida Institute of Technology to expand the development and make it truly beachfront.
Efforts to meet with FIT officials to pursue that purchase delayed planning for the development, according to Lutgert.
“We had hoped there would be some connection with the FIT site but after we submitted a proposal, FIT went dark and we haven’t heard anything other than they were considering other options,” Lutgert project manager Mike Hoyt said last week.
After deciding to write off the FIT property part of the deal, Lutgert designed Surfsedge to fit on the five acres it owns, which run down close to the beach but are separated from the sand by a strip of county property.
If the PZV Board approves rezoning the parcel and recommends approval to the Town Council, the plan should go before the Town Council on June 28.
“If we are approved on June 28 we will proceed with finalizing the site drawings and obtaining the site development plan approval,” Hoyt said. “This should have us starting infrastructure construction and marketing for the homes before the end of the year and starting construction on the first homes just after the start of the new year.”
Florida Institute of Technology spokesman Wes Sumner could not clear up the mystery of what’s happening with the shuttered Vero Marine Lab site owned by FIT. The Indian River Board of County Commissioners made a bid for the property last year, and private buyers, including Lutgert Companies, have expressed interest, but FIT has not been responsive.
Sumner last week would say only, “We discontinued operations at the lab some time ago in preparation for the sale of the property. No update on the sale at this time.”
