A 2,055-acre agricultural tract at Interstate 95 and Midway Road first primed for development in 1997 is once again being groomed for the construction of 4,000 houses.
Naples-based developer Associated Real Estate Southwest is in the process of updating the plans for the LTC Ranch property, whose southeastern boundary is just across Glades Cut-off Road from PGA Village’s northwestern boundary.
The process involves changes to the city’s growth plan, including decoupling the agricultural tract west of I-95 from the 390-acre Midway Business Park east of I-95, which has a different owner and which has been under development since 2007.
LTC Ranch is among seven so-called developments of regional impact underway in the revived boom town west of I-95 where 40,000 homes are lined up to be built in the next three decades. The other “DRIs” are Tradition, Southern Grove, Western Grove, Riverland, Verano/PGA Village and Wilson Grove.
The efforts to develop the 2,055-acre tract cleared an important hurdle on Jan. 28 when the City Council gave initial approval to a proposed amendment to the city’s Comprehensive Growth Management Plan that will change what can be built on several sites on Midway and Glades Cut-off roads.
The council sent the proposal to the state Department of Economic Opportunity and other reviewing agencies, and is expected to finalize the changes later this year. The council also has final say on proposed updates to the project’s master plan.
The new plans call for 73 acres of commercial development on Midway Road, west of the FPL Substation, instead of 50 acres. A total of 725,000 square feet of retail space will be permitted on Midway and Glades Cut-off Roads.
The amendment would also set the stage for the construction of a new public high school on a 55-acre site on Glades Cut-off Road across from Commerce Center Parkway.
Commerce Center Parkway will be connected to Midway Road by a 2-mile-long north-south arterial road running through the center of the project, plans show.
Midway Road will be widened between I-95 and the new arterial road that will serve as the entrance to the project, Lee Dobbins, a lawyer representing the developer, told the council on Jan. 28.
Construction will start at Midway Road and proceed south, Dobbins said.
The 2,055-acre property has a market value of $17.8 million, St. Lucie County Property Appraiser records show.
Associated Real Estate Southwest subsidiary LTC Midway paid Centex Homes $15.3 million for the land in December 2107, records show. Centex had purchased the property for $110 million in March 2006 from LTC Joint Venture, the initial developer.
LTC Midway also paid $469,000 to the city in January 2018 to resolve a debt under a 2007 impact fee prepayment agreement with Centex, Dobbins said. Additional impact fees – which help cover the costs of new public facilities needed to accommodate new residents – will be paid as homes are built.
Another complication involves separating the LTC Midway property from the industrial land east of I-95 owned by LTC Ranch Joint Venture, which is associated with the Kern Company of Coral Gables.
Both properties are part of the LTC Ranch DRI, which was initially approved by St. Lucie County in June 1997, city records show. Port St. Lucie annexed the property in March 2003 and approved an update of the plans in September 2007.
The LTC Ranch development order spells out the road improvements and other public facilities that must be constructed as new homes and businesses are built.
The development documents will be updated to clarify the rights and obligations of each owner as they develop their land, Dobbins said.
So far, seven businesses, a non-profit agency and the city have built industrial facilities totaling 569,315 square feet and 42,542 square feet of office space in the Midway Business Park, city records show.
The project was designed to handle another 1.4 million square feet of industrial space and more than 1.4 million square feet of office space.