Upbeat Oravec plans to ‘State’ a positive case

Mayor Greg Oravec looks around Port St. Lucie and likes what he sees these days.

“We’re very lucky to live in Port St. Lucie all the time, but we’re in an upswing,” he said. “There are many good things happening.”

Oravec will deliver the annual State of the City address at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, and said he’s keeping what he’ll say a secret.

“I hate to reveal any of the excitement that’ll be on full display,” he said. The mayor certainly has a lot of cheer to choose from. For example, area employment is stronger than it’s been for 10 years. The state released its monthly jobs report for December on Jan. 19. The state reported that St. Lucie County ended 2017 with unemployment at 4.4 percent not seasonally adjusted, down a full percentage point from the year before.

While that falls into the range most economists would call full employment, the jobs just keep coming. “We just won a $3 million job grant from the governor and state,” Oravec said.

That Florida Job Growth Grant is for infrastructure to spark additional development at the Tradition Center for Commerce. The grant will cover some of the costs to build a loop road with accompanying infrastructure to add access to about 100 acres. That’ll allow for about 1.1 million square feet of added commercial space.

“It’s time we bring that jobs corridor along (Interstate 95) to life,” the mayor said.

In August the city gained control over the former Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute facility at 9801 SW Discovery Way. That was the last piece of failed economic-development bids the city made when the local, state and national economies were in painfully sluggish recovery.

The city guaranteed about $64 million in bonds for VGTI to construct the 107,000-square-foot facility in 2010. VGTI later filed for bankruptcy. The city is now marketing the building as the Florida Center for Bio-Sciences.

That’s not the only property on the city’s real estate sales list. In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the greenlight for the sale of about 20 acres at the City Center along U.S. 1 and Walton Road.

The acres have been tied up by federal actions against Lily Zhong, a New Zealand developer who purchased the land in 2013. She paid $500,000 and was supposed to also pay backlogged special assessments. The city had taken out about $25 million in bonds to build infrastructure at the 40-acre City Center.

The SEC said Zhong was running a scam. Zhong and the SEC settled the case in 2016.

She accepted what amounts to probation and surrendered assets, including the Port St. Lucie properties.

“Now is the time to work with the receiver and make something happen at City Center,” Oravec said.

The mayor said with tremendous improvements in the economic state of the city and prospects for more, it’s time to also focus on some other fundamentals.

“We’re calling on the community to live healthy and well,” Oravec said.

On Jan. 1 the Healthy St. Lucie Coalition launched the largest group walking challenge in the county’s history, the Billion Step Challenge. In January, Oravec proclaimed 2018 as the year of the Billion Step Challenge to encourage city residents to register and track their exercise.

“We want to get to a billion or more cumulative steps,” he said.

Oravec said he’s practicing what he’s preaching. “I’m trying to walk two miles every night,” he said.

There’s also the environmental health.

“Another challenge you’re going to hear me talk about is the tree challenge,” the mayor said. “There are a million reasons to love tress.”

The city is encouraging and working with individuals, businesses and homeowner associations to plant more trees. There are, of course, the obvious reasons of aesthetics and air quality. But, Oravec said, Port St. Lucie also has local water quality in mind. Trees not only slow the progress of groundwater toward waterways, they’re also thirsty.

“Water that gets picked up by that tree doesn’t flow to the river,” Oravec said.

That helps keep nutrients that are good for the ground but bad for the waterways to stay put.

The State of the City will be at the Port St. Lucie City Hall, 121 SW Port St. Lucie Blvd.

To learn more about the Billion Step Challenge, visit www.cityofpsl.com/billionsteps.    nMayor Greg Oravec looks around Port St. Lucie and likes what he sees these days.

“We’re very lucky to live in Port St. Lucie all the time, but we’re in an upswing,” he said. “There are many good things happening.”

Oravec will deliver the annual State of the City address at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, and said he’s keeping what he’ll say a secret.

“I hate to reveal any of the excitement that’ll be on full display,” he said. The mayor certainly has a lot of cheer to choose from. For example, area employment is stronger than it’s been for 10 years. The state released its monthly jobs report for December on Jan. 19. The state reported that St. Lucie County ended 2017 with unemployment at 4.4 percent not seasonally adjusted, down a full percentage point from the year before.

While that falls into the range most economists would call full employment, the jobs just keep coming. “We just won a $3 million job grant from the governor and state,” Oravec said.

That Florida Job Growth Grant is for infrastructure to spark additional development at the Tradition Center for Commerce. The grant will cover some of the costs to build a loop road with accompanying infrastructure to add access to about 100 acres. That’ll allow for about 1.1 million square feet of added commercial space.

“It’s time we bring that jobs corridor along (Interstate 95) to life,” the mayor said.

In August the city gained control over the former Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute facility at 9801 SW Discovery Way. That was the last piece of failed economic-development bids the city made when the local, state and national economies were in painfully sluggish recovery.

The city guaranteed about $64 million in bonds for VGTI to construct the 107,000-square-foot facility in 2010. VGTI later filed for bankruptcy. The city is now marketing the building as the Florida Center for Bio-Sciences.

That’s not the only property on the city’s real estate sales list. In September, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the greenlight for the sale of about 20 acres at the City Center along U.S. 1 and Walton Road.

The acres have been tied up by federal actions against Lily Zhong, a New Zealand developer who purchased the land in 2013. She paid $500,000 and was supposed to also pay backlogged special assessments. The city had taken out about $25 million in bonds to build infrastructure at the 40-acre City Center.

The SEC said Zhong was running a scam. Zhong and the SEC settled the case in 2016.

She accepted what amounts to probation and surrendered assets, including the Port St. Lucie properties.

“Now is the time to work with the receiver and make something happen at City Center,” Oravec said.

The mayor said with tremendous improvements in the economic state of the city and prospects for more, it’s time to also focus on some other fundamentals.

“We’re calling on the community to live healthy and well,” Oravec said.

On Jan. 1 the Healthy St. Lucie Coalition launched the largest group walking challenge in the county’s history, the Billion Step Challenge. In January, Oravec proclaimed 2018 as the year of the Billion Step Challenge to encourage city residents to register and track their exercise.

“We want to get to a billion or more cumulative steps,” he said.

Oravec said he’s practicing what he’s preaching. “I’m trying to walk two miles every night,” he said.

There’s also the environmental health.

“Another challenge you’re going to hear me talk about is the tree challenge,” the mayor said. “There are a million reasons to love tress.”

The city is encouraging and working with individuals, businesses and homeowner associations to plant more trees. There are, of course, the obvious reasons of aesthetics and air quality. But, Oravec said, Port St. Lucie also has local water quality in mind. Trees not only slow the progress of groundwater toward waterways, they’re also thirsty.

“Water that gets picked up by that tree doesn’t flow to the river,” Oravec said.

That helps keep nutrients that are good for the ground but bad for the waterways to stay put.

The State of the City will be at the Port St. Lucie City Hall, 121 SW Port St. Lucie Blvd.

To learn more about the Billion Step Challenge, visit www.cityofpsl.com/billionsteps.