Economic Development Council proposes Fort Pierce jobs corridor modeled on Southern Grove

FORT PIERCE — The city should pursue development of a "jobs corridor" on Kings Highway, similar to the one Port St. Lucie has developed in the Southern Grove area of Tradition, Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County officials told city commissioners Monday.

The recommendation came during an update on EDC projects, which included a preview of 10 new code‐named projects — economic development projects that are assigned code names to keep the names of the businesses involved private as negotiations take place — totaling tens of millions of potential investments across St. Lucie County.

Kings Highway jobs corridor

Fort Pierce can have "a world-class commerce center and industrial corridor," said EDC Executive Committee Chair Azlina Goldstein, and EDC stands "ready, able and willing to help the city."

While many of the large projects EDC has helped attract have been in the southern part of the county, particularly in Port St. Lucie, there is a lot of potential for future growth in the northern section of the county, said the committee's chair-elect Robert Barfield.

"Port St. Lucie's Southern Grove jobs corridor is almost built out," Barfield said.

Much of that growth in the northern section is likely to be either in Fort Pierce or in nearby areas that could potentially be annexed by the city, Goldstein said. The Southern Grove project, in Tradition, is a perfect model for how Fort Pierce can plan that growth on its own terms, Goldstein said.

"If we can do it at Tradition, we can do it on Kings Highway," Goldstein said.

The details

While details of a potential plan are still being ironed out by the EDC and City Manager Nick Mimms before they will be brought to the commission, EDC President Pete Tesch touched on a number of the potential aspects and benefits of a planned jobs corridor on Kings Highway.

Tesch said it will be important to have in place affordable workforce housing, workforce-readiness programs and training, and necessary infrastructure and utilities. Increased tax revenue from economic development can provide significant help in paying for those necessities, particularly with infrastructure, utilities and other public services, he added.

The current plan has the jobs corridor initially stretching the roughly 2.4 miles between Okeechobee Road and Orange Avenue, with the potential for its future expansion, said District Planning Group co-principal Leslie Olson. There are ideas to go further north on Kings Highway, but that the plan is to "start small," Olson said.

Planning a jobs corridor requires listening to the community, businesses, city leaders and other stakeholders, Olson said.

"We'll be doing a lot of interviews," Olson said.

Past discussions of a Kings Highway jobs corridor

There have been discussions about a jobs corridor on Kings Highway before, said Commissioner Jeremiah Johnson. He remembers being a part of planning for Kings Highway in 2000 and 2001, though those plans did not come to fruition.

Earlier in the presentation, Tesch pointed to the fact that though much of the explosive growth at Southern Grove has taken place since the city purchased the area in 2018, planning there dated back over 20 years as well.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Tesch said.

Possible expansion of city limits

The Kings Highway area is right on the border of Fort Pierce and unincorporated St. Lucie County, meaning some of these projects would happen in areas that are not currently part of the city. That said, multiple speakers hinted at the possibility of future city annexations.

"My interests are pretty simple. I want to annex all of it," Commissioner Michael Broderick said.

Concerns about housing costs

Commissioner Curtis Johnson reiterated the importance of having affordable housing and workforce development to ensure that the jobs created by these projects go first to people who already live in Fort Pierce.

"The last thing I want is driving our residents out," Curtis Johnson said.

More: Less than six years in, the Southern Grove'jobs corridor' in Port St. Lucie is almost full

More: Warehouse boom: Do jobs, taxes, economic diversity outweigh roads, traffic, environment?

One possible avenue to keeping residents from leaving is working with Indian River State College, said Commissioner Arnold Gaines. A significant number of IRSC students are from the Treasure Coast, Gaines said.

Tesch said the EDC does work with IRSC and will explore ways to grow its partnership.

Wicker Perlis is TCPalm's Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at wicker.perlis@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Economic Development Council proposes Fort Pierce jobs corridor modeled on Southern Grove