Pursuit Boats intends to start construction this summer on a $17 million expansion across from Treasure Coast International Airport and Business Park that will triple its manufacturing capacity and add 200 workers.
Pursuit Boat envisions employing 400 workers in a 780,500-square-foot manufacturing complex by 2024 under development plans approved April 2 by the St. Lucie County Commission.
The boat factory expansion is one of three major economic development initiatives gaining traction this month in northern St. Lucie County. The commissioners are to vote April 16 on a contract with Derecktor Florida shipyards of Dania Beach to operate a mega-yacht service center at the Port of Fort Pierce. Derecktor Florida would pay roughly $1.4 million in rent per year for 30 years starting Sept. 1, 2020, county records say. The facility would bring several hundred jobs to the seaport. In addition, the commissioners revived efforts to convince Florida Department of Transportation to develop interchanges on Florida’s Turnpike and Interstate 95 that would connect to St. Lucie Boulevard and provide direct access to the airport and seaport.
The new business development at the airport and seaport shows the growing need for turnpike and I-95 interchanges leading to St. Lucie Boulevard, several commissioners said. “This will be an economic driver,” said Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky during a meeting on April 2.
The commissioners are to vote April 16 on an agreement with FDOT to split the $225,000 cost of a study detailing how the county could meet state requirements for the new interchanges.
The proposed 4-mile-long road linking the turnpike and I-95 to St. Lucie Boulevard and Kings Highway will cost an estimated $122.6 million, county records show. The interchanges would provide Indian River County residents easy access to Treasure Coast International Airport after passenger service starts in the future, Dzadovsky said.
It’s inevitable the county’s airport will continue to grow as international airports in Orlando and West Palm Beach reach their capacity for air traffic, Dzadovsky said. St. Lucie County has planned since at least 1986 for the northeastern part of the county to be an economic development center, Dzadovsky said.
Pursuit Boats’ expansion is a big part of the county’s economic development efforts.
The project will benefit from a 10-year tax exemption program that eliminates the county’s property and equipment taxes for five years, county records show. Pursuit Boats will pay a steadily increasing percentage of its property and equipment taxes during the final five years of the program.
The company opened in 1983 as S-2 Yachts and expanded several times. It was purchased in 2018 by Mailbu Boats, which bills itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of watersports, wake, ski and surf boats.
Pursuit Boats currently operates a 208,672-square-foot facility on a 21-acre site at 3901 St. Lucie Blvd., across from the airport. Buildings totaling 571,830 square feet for boat production, rigging and customization, and operations and support will be constructed on a wooded 69-acre site just east on St. Lucie Boulevard.
Work is to start this summer on a 182,115-square-foot manufacturing facility and 1,500-square-foot accessory structure in the first phase of the project.
Pursuit Boats is donating a 32-acre parcel south and east of its manufacturing facilities to the county for a scrub jay preserve, records say. An adjacent 10-acre tract will double as a preserve and buffer.
St. Lucie County’s deal with Derecktor Florida calls for the company to pay $250,000 in rent for its first year at the former Indian River Marine Terminal and at least $1,391,000 annually for the next nine years.
The minimum annual payment will decline $27,000 to $1,364,000 for the agreement’s next 20 years, county records say.
The payments will cover the county’s debt service on the loans that financed the $25 million purchase of the 12-acre marine terminal site and a 10 percent stake in a 67-acre port property in January 2018.
In addition, the county will receive 2 percent of Derecktor Florida’s gross sales between $30 million and $40 million, and 1 percent of gross sales above $40 million.
Derecktor Florida’s business model estimates gross sales reaching $50 million by its fifth year of operations at the port, county records show. That would provide the county an additional $300,000.
The 30-year deal has three 15-year options. At the end of the first term and each subsequent term, the county’s guaranteed payment will increase 20 percent.
The county agreed to remove the packing house on the property and clean up environmental contamination.
Derecktor Florida agreed to order the largest mobile boat hoist available for the terminal to move mega-yachts in and out of the water, county records say.
It also agreed to take responsibility for any environmental issues arising out of its operations at the terminal and carry a $10 million pollution liability policy.
Derecktor Florida will relocate its corporate headquarters to St. Lucie County within three years, county records say.
In addition, the company agreed to work with Indian River State College and others to create a training and apprenticeship program.
The deal would eliminate most of the county’s routine costs for its property at the Port of Fort Pierce, records show. It is also expected to encourage other businesses to set up shop at the seaport and airport.