A development boom is sweeping the 8-mile-long Becker Road corridor traversing southeastern Port St. Lucie from the agricultural land in Western Grove to the gated communities on the St. Lucie River.
Major residential and commercial projects are underway on the east side of Becker Road and in the planning stages on the west end of Becker Road.
In between, the Port St. Lucie City Council is in the process of changing the city’s growth rules to promote commercial development at Becker Road’s intersections with Port St. Lucie, Savona and Darwin boulevards.
Becker Road is important to Port St. Lucie commuters because it features interchanges on Interstate 95 and Florida’s Turnpike, which provide access to South Florida and Orlando.
On the west side, GHO Homes LLC plans to extend Becker Road to a 141-acre tract in Western Grove and build 300 single-family houses under the latest development proposal along the busy thoroughfare.
Port St. Lucie is also negotiating to sell a 20-acre city-owned tract at the northeast corner of Becker Road and Village Parkway to Publix Supermarkets for a new shopping center.
In addition, Port St. Lucie intends to formulate a master development plan next year for 1,100 acres the city owns north of Becker Road, between I-95 and Village Parkway.
On the east side of Becker Road, Veranda St. Lucie Land Holdings of Jacksonville is preparing to widen congested sections of Becker Road to four lanes to handle the development of 3,230 high-end residences.
The developer is to present the plans and timetable for the road improvements to the City Council on Aug. 12, said city spokeswoman Nicole Nricik.
A 24-foot-wide landscaped median will separate the two travel lanes in each direction, city records show. A 4-foot-wide bike lane and an 8-foot-wide sidewalk will be built on both sides of the road.
Traffic currently gets so congested during rush hours along the 2-mile length of the Veranda project that Becker Road fails to meet service standards, county records show.
Gilson Road, a backroad linking Becker Road to Palm City and the rest of Martin County, also gets jammed to the point of failure during rush hours.
Consequently, Veranda St. Lucie plans to construct a traffic circle at the intersection of Becker and Gilson roads to ease congestion.
Huizenga Holdings Inc., of Boca Raton, owns a commercial, industrial and residential project underway on a 97-acre site south of Becker Road, just east of the turnpike.
Plans call for 367,000 square feet of retail and office space, warehouses totaling 90,000 square feet, a 120-room hotel and 581 residences, city records show.
The project includes the Veranda Falls Shopping Center, nearly 100,000 square feet of commercial space that was built in 2007.
The commercial space is anchored by a Publix Supermarket.
However, most of the storefronts are vacant in the architecturally striking shopping center featuring fountains, brick pavers and lush landscaping.
The project also includes a small commercial center with a Mobil gas station and a Subway sandwich shop that were built in 2012.
Another 70 acres remain undeveloped between the centers and the C-23 Canal.
Parts of Becker Road were still unpaved 20 years ago, but the initiation of the massive Tradition project in 2000 started it transformation from a country road into a major east-west thoroughfare.
