The northern residential area of Satellite Beach is changing its face these days with more than 100 rental houses being demolished in an annexed area that up until 2002 served South Housing units for families stationed at Patrick Air Force Base.
Owner Woodshire-Brevard LLC, the buyer and developer of the property, is based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company indicated initially that it wanted to design and develop a luxury residential community with two-story penthouses of more than 4,000 square feet with ocean views from the west side of State Road A1A.
Demolition recently began and should take several weeks to complete. No exact plans have been submitted to the city so far, but city officials recently met with the owners to discuss what type of development would be allowed on the property as per a 2004 development agreement, said City Manger Courtney Barker.
As part of that agreement, the site is zoned for townhouses or condos to be a maximum of 85 feet tall, said Satellite Beach City Manager Courtney Barker.
“There is no proposal yet on the old base housing but we expect one very soon,’’ she said.
Unless they want to change their zoning, the owners only have to receive site plan approval, environmental permits, and building permits, a process that can take about six months if all goes well, she said.
The city would like to request certain aspects of the plan be designed with environmental concerns in mind but, until those rules are officially approved, the city can only make the request and not force those aspects to be included, she said.
The origins of the project go back to a request by PAFB to be annexed into the city. “We required the development agreement for them to do so,’’ Barker said.
Patrick still has rights to about 100 acres of property in Satellite Beach that likely will sit vacant in case of emergency housing needs for the base, she said.
“We aren’t that mad that they are being demolished. Some of the units were in pretty bad shape,’’ Barker said.
