Port St. Lucie City Center’s proximity to St. Lucie Medical Center and public transit make it an attractive site for a new medical office, a local health center operator said.
“For us, it’s really important to try to be in a location that’s easily accessible for patients,” said Dr. Wilhelmina Lewis, president and CEO of Florida Community Health Centers.
The nonprofit healthcare provider is considering developing a 25,000- to 40,000-square-foot office building on the vacant lot at 9300 S. U.S. 1, Lewis said. FCHC serves 24,000 patients at six offices in St. Lucie County and wants to expand, Lewis said. Overall FCHC has 460 employees in 12 offices in St. Lucie, Martin, Okeechobee, Glades, Hendry and Palm Beach counties.
The new facility would offer comprehensive services to families, including prenatal, obstetrical, pediatric, primary, dental, behavioral and substance abuse disorder care, Lewis said. It would also offer pharmacy and lab services.
The medical office would be the first new private development at City Center since at least 2001, when the city decided to redevelop the Village Green Shopping Center into a downtown with shops, restaurants, entertainment, a hotel, offices and apartments.
FCHC has a contract to purchase and develop the 4/5th acre lot next to a vacant office building on the service road leading from U.S. 1 northbound into City Center, city records show.
But FCHC is still researching the property and refining development plans, Lewis said. If the deal goes through, construction could start as soon as 2020.
“Right now that’s flexible because as a private nonprofit, there is always the need to make sure we have the funding to carry the project to finish,” Lewis said.
“Our first thing would be to secure the property,” Lewis said. “Depending on how that process goes, that would set out timeline.”
The lot is owned by the Biggs Family and has a market value of $159,400, St. Lucie County property records show.
Architectural drawings and construction cost estimates are still being worked up, Lewis said.
If the project is completed, about 80 workers would be employed in the new building, Lewis said. It may provide a chance to consolidate the services FCHC is providing at two offices near the hospital.
“We’re actually not too far from that location now, so to be even more visible and readily accessible for patients would be ideal for us,” Lewis said. “Trying to increase people’s awareness that we exist and make it easier to find us is important.”
The Treasure Coast Connector bus line on U.S. 1, which has stops at City Center and the hospital, would give more people access to FCHC’s services, Lewis said.
“We recognize there is still more need that has not yet been met,” Lewis said. “This would be an opportunity to bring more services to patients at a cost that they could afford.”
Meanwhile, the federal receiver holding 21 acres in City Center is reviewing offers for the land, said City Manager Russ Blackburn during the May 28 City Council meeting.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seized the property from Lin “Lily” Zhong and US1 Real Estate Developments LLC in November 2015 as part of a fraud investigation, federal records show.
The property has languished in legal limbo ever since. A distressed real estate firm, Biscayne Atlantic of Hollywood, made an offer on the 21 acres last August, but let the deadline expire.
There have been no court filings in the case since Aug. 23, when U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard authorized the receiver to sell the City Center property to Biscayne Atlantic.
In April, AHS Residential LLC offered the receiver $750,000 for the land subject to negotiations with government officials to reduce more than $24 million in back property taxes and assessments, city records show.
Blackburn said he’s heard about the possibility of other developers submitting bids for the City Center land, but the receiver has not provided any details.
The receiver, Michael Goldberg of the Akerman firm, has repeatedly declined to address questions in email and telephone messages from St. Lucie Voice.
