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February 18, 2007
PORT ST. LUCIE — Rants from residents and promises from politicians have filled nearly two years of debate about Becker Road.
It's been 19 months, and still city officials don't know when they will start widening the quiet two-lane road that skims Port St. Lucie's southern edge.
The debate got most residents what they wanted — four lanes instead of six, a community instead of a pass-through — but while people talked, construction crews built and developers planned. Ready or not, Becker is about to become a major thoroughfare with retail centers emerging at either end.
"That road is fruit on the vine. It's economic development waiting to happen, just waiting to be plucked," area resident Mike Conklin said. "And the smart ones — the Bobby Ginns and the Huizengas — they already have."
As the debate goes on, residents like Conklin are bracing themselves for a "nightmare of construction." Some are getting what they can for their property, while others hope the plan they worked out with the city will keep their neighborhood intact.
Anticipating commercial growth on Becker Road, city planners unveiled an ambitious plan in July 2005 to widen and refashion the corridor as a business hub. Residents opposed the $51 million proposal, which would have required the city to purchase — or take — more than 300 lots and charge the remaining residents for the improvements.
The public outcry prompted a public discussion about the road. And public speculation about driving up area property values then prompted a building moratorium.
City Council quickly repealed the ban, but Realtors say it set the stage for a back-and-forth that has left property owners in limbo.
"The old adage is measure twice, cut once, but they're measuring, like, four times," said Realtor Claudia Gentile, who represents several property owners negotiating with the city. "It's overkill."
City Council approved a Becker Road plan last January, but continued to debate the project. City Manager Don Cooper estimated the delay cost Port St. Lucie as much as $3.5 million in rising construction costs.
But the area's existing residents have worried mostly about how the road looks, feels and works. Residents wanted to preserve the idea of a neighborhood and railed against city engineers' plan for a six-lane, traffic-moving thoroughfare.
"I think City Council thought it would be like going into the wilderness," Conklin said. "There would be just a few pioneers and we wouldn't make a lot of waves. ... But it did become a loud enough voice."
City Council ultimately sided with the residents, and the Becker Road plan the city is working from now is culled from their opinions.
Based on a plan created by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, the proposal widens Becker to just four lanes and puts roundabouts at Darwin and Savona boulevards. Commercial projects are clustered around the major intersections, and a few roads are shut off from Becker to limit traffic in the neighborhoods.Developer and city money will pay for the $50 million project. And, in light of rising housing costs, Mayor Patricia Christensen said a special assessment district like the one originally proposed to pay for Becker Road — which would charge residents for the improvements — is no longer an option.
Yet, even with a plan in place, the Becker Road debate is not over.
City Council approved a plan last week to connect Port St. Lucie Boulevard with Martin County's Western Palm City Corridor. That means plans for the intersection at Becker Road must change again.
Complicating matters is a major commercial project at Becker's western end that city officials cannot publicly discuss because of confidentiality agreements. The project is speculated to be a massive regional mall in Tradition.
Meanwhile, Tradition developer Core Communities plans to open The Landing, a Target-anchored retail center, at Gatlin Boulevard this summer. It's a few miles north of Becker, but with the turnpike exit opening in weeks and thousands of southern Port St. Lucie and Palm City residents tired of fighting traffic to U.S. 1, The Landing could bring a great deal of traffic through the corridor.
Also this summer, The Shoppes at Veranda — a Publix-anchored plaza — is set to open at Becker's eastern end. And developers are beginning to plan for retail centers at Becker's other intersections.
Widening Bayshore Boulevard, which is only two miles long, has taken nearly three years.
Becker Road is four miles long from Interstate 95 to the turnpike and city officials still have no idea when construction will start on the widening. But City Council is expected to discuss the plans again next month, and most officials say a final decision can't come soon enough.
"Time is of the essence right now on Becker Road," Vice Mayor Jack Kelly said.
Tradition, a planned community in Port St. Lucie, Fla., has a walkable downtown.
February 16, 2007
FOR the 45 years since its inception, Port St. Lucie has often been seen as something of a Florida nowheresville, a suburban city idling between the more attention-worthy municipalities of South Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach) and the tourist magnet of Orlando.
Even after Port St. Lucie, dubbed “Port St. Lousy” by its most sharp-tongued critics, became the New York Mets’ spring-training site in the late 1980s, it still couldn’t shake its small-town reputation. In 1998, a columnist for The New York Post, Andrea Peyser, went so far as to call it a “pathetic waste of map space.” Local officials were not amused.
But these days, it is the city officials who may be having the last laugh. By 2005, Port St. Lucie, with more than 118,000 residents, was recognized as the fastest-growing large city in the country, according to the United States Census Bureau; last year, it was third on the list.
Moreover, though the city still has a bedroom-community identity, it balances that suburban sleepiness with an increasing degree of upscale sophistication, seen in a growing number of planned communities that offer lakeside living, a bounty of golf courses and more. Thus it’s attracting more than its share of retirees and second-home buyers, particularly from the Northeast, Florida’s traditional core market.
“All of a sudden, people have found us,” said Barry Newell, a longtime real estate agent. He noted that a decade ago, “We were trying to give away lots for $3,000.”
Who are these newcomers? They’re people like David Allen, an airline pilot who splits his time between Louisville, Ky., and Port St. Lucie. He bought in Port St. Lucie about three years ago because he felt it offered enough in leisure activities — he’s into golf — without its being overwhelmed by the congestion that has overtaken cities to the south, particularly in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. “You’re not running into that traffic all the time,” he said.
And while Port St. Lucie, the largest city in St. Lucie County, isn’t on the ocean, it offers water of a different sort: the meandering St. Lucie River, which was a setting in the James Bond movie “Moonraker” and which is like a piece of Old Florida preserved. Mr. Allen said he looked forward to fly-fishing for snook, redfish and tarpon.
There are also a lot of shopping, dining and recreational activities geared toward the younger families that make up a sizable chunk of Port St. Lucie’s population. (Many young professionals commute to jobs in West Palm Beach, the nearest major metropolis, about 40 miles south.) One example: the year-old family entertainment center Superplay USA, which features a bowling alley, batting cages, arcade and sports bar under one roof.
And the Mets are still there, too, in a stadium, Tradition Field, that underwent a $10 million renovation three years ago. The Mets’ pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training today, and position players next week, with games starting on Feb. 28.
But these days, Port St. Lucie has more than baseball on its mind: It’s making plans to welcome a laboratory of the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, a California biotechnology research center, which is scheduled to be built in the area by 2009. City officials hope the institute’s arrival will complete Port St. Lucie’s transformation into a verifiable somewheresville.
The Scene
No, there’s no port to be found in Port St. Lucie. For that matter, there’s not really a downtown. But within its sprawl of subdivisions and strip malls are distinct sections.
Port St. Lucie’s eastern half — that is, to the east of Interstate 95 — is largely defined by older, nongated neighborhoods, some dating from the city’s earliest days. (It was created in the 1960s as a haven for Northeastern retirees, under the leadership of the now-bankrupt General Development Corporation.) Some lots are still being developed, since the city didn’t have all its water and sewage lines in place until a few years ago. Plans are also under way to create a downtown of sorts — a 70-acre project called City Center, which will include a $25 million civic center.
To the west, however, is the real growth. That’s where you’ll find some of the biggest planned communities, including those both established (PGA Village) and new (Tradition and Verano). Tradition, which is aimed at families, is trying to offer the best of both urban and suburban living: It’s a New Urbanist development, with pedestrian-friendly streets and a community center, that’s slated to have as many as 17,000 homes.
Verano, which expects its first residents in early March, seems particularly appealing for retirees. It’s expected to have 6,300 residences and three nine-hole golf courses.
But both communities are seeing a mix of young and old residents, defying Florida’s age-segregated norm. Developers say that’s part of Port St. Lucie’s appeal. “It has all the different socioeconomic groups,” said Craig A. Perna, an executive with Kolter Communities, Verano’s developer.
Pros
While it still lacks the traffic headaches of cities to the south, Port St. Lucie offers plenty of fun in the sun — boating, golf courses, you name it. And, as it continues to grow, there’s little doubt it will offer more in the way of leisure pursuits. Main Street Village, a new $100 million high-end shopping and dining development, is scheduled to open as early as 2008.
But even if Port St. Lucie’s growth translates into eventual gridlock — and there’s no shortage of local residents who predict just that — the city will always have a natural advantage over its southerly neighbors by virtue of its location: It’s just far enough north to lessen the tropical blow when it comes to heat and humidity.
That is a big attraction for Ron Kukulski, a retiree in Boynton Beach, Fla., who plans to move to Port St. Lucie in the next few months. Well, that and the fact the lifestyle is not strictly geared toward retirees or the transient winter snowbird scene. “There’s more of a grow-your-roots thing” in Port St. Lucie, he said.
Cons
Can you say sprawl? There’s plenty of it in Port St. Lucie — and plenty more coming. Even with Tradition’s pedestrian friendliness, this is a city ruled by the car.
It’s also a city without much in the way of cultural amenities. Want to take in a Broadway-caliber show? Be prepared to drive to West Palm Beach. (There are, however, small to midsize theaters in Fort Pierce and Stuart, two cities closer to Port St. Lucie.) You’ll also have to drive to West Palm for the nearest major airport.
And though the last year was kind as far as weather, Port St. Lucie didn’t escape the spate of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. (In 2004 alone, hurricane damage estimates totaled $3.8 billion in St. Lucie County). And meteorologists warn that Florida could be in store for many more in the coming years.
The Real Estate Market
Though prices have risen sharply in recent years, real estate agents and developers still talk up Port St. Lucie as a Florida bargain. The median sales price in December of existing single-family homes in the Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce area was $240,000, compared with $368,200 in West Palm Beach area and $380,100 in Miami, according to the latest report from the Florida Association of Realtors. (The city says that in Port St. Lucie itself, the median for single-family homes was $255,700.)
New construction generally begins at around $250,000, but can go higher in the more exclusive, amenity-rich communities. At Verano, for example, prices begin at $300,000 for a unit in a two-family building, but reach as much as $600,000 for the largest single-family homes.
November 14, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — When city officials set out to extend municipal water and sewer pipes in front of every lot and home in this sprawling 80-square-mile city in 1993, the editor of Public Works magazine in New Jersey said he'd never heard of anything like it.
Thirteen years later, the $180 million feat still is considered an engineering marvel, unrivaled among cities and counties nationwide.
On Tuesday, as crews with Felix Equities completed work on the final sewer lines in Sandpiper Bay, city officials gathered to celebrate how something as simple as clean, abundant water can transform a city from a bedroom community into a thriving metropolis worthy of competing on the national stage.
"We would not have had the rising property values or prosperity we have enjoyed without it," said City Manager Don Cooper. He was one of several public officials who was threatened with bodily harm for endorsing a plan that called for the average homeowner to pay $2,200 for central water and sewer service when each house already had a perfectly functioning well and septic tank.
"I was thinking to myself, 'What the hell am I doing here, and how do I get out of here in one piece?' " Mayor Bob Minksy said, recalling an especially contentious public meeting in which residents threatened to riot.
All told, there were 1,200 miles of pipes installed, along with 3,000 fire hydrants in forested neighborhoods once susceptible to wildfires.
More than 10 million square yards of sod were installed, and crews bored beneath 15,097 driveways. Although there were 983 registered citizen complaints during Phase 2 of the nine-phase project, only 460 were registered during the remaining phases - a testimony to Felix's ability to adapt to residents' demands, some say.
"This was not a water and sewer project," said Marvin Bethune of Culpepper & Ternpeing, the contracted engineers who designed and inspected the project. "It was a restoration project."
November 9, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — Twelve exploding mortars and a simulated bomb jolted neighbors from their porches and sent a massive fireball skyward Thursday, but that's how officials wanted construction of the city's only downtown to begin.
With a bang.
After 20 years of clamoring for a central gathering spot, city officials think they've found it in the shadows of a nondescript shopping center that sits at the retail heart of Port St. Lucie on U.S. 1. As dozens watched the front wall of the former Village Green 6 Theatres crumble in the jaws of a track excavator Thursday, officials urged residents to keep their eyes on City Center over the next few years.
They might just think they're in a real city.
"We're going to see a new and beautiful downtown rise out of the dust," a beaming mayor-elect Patricia Christensen said. "What we'll see here in three to five years is something this community can be so proud of."
Indeed, with $85 million in taxpayers' money pledged and another $291 million in private investment, the transformation of the former Village Green Shopping Center into a CityPlace-like downtown will signal a new beginning for a town never designed to be more than a bedroom community, observers say.
"Everyone wants to feel like they're part of something," said councilman Jack Kelly, "and now people will have a place to belong."
As early as April, residents will see construction begin on the heart of the downtown: a 100,000-square-foot civic center in the northeast corner that will house everything from a gym and sprawling banquet rooms to a fitness center and the city's only public art gallery. The city also will begin work on two multistory parking garages and a large tiled plaza with interactive fountain that will have ample room for outdoor concerts and festivals.
Later in the year, Jupiter developer George de Guardiola and his partners, brother Eduard de Guardiola and Rendina Companies of Palm Beach Gardens, will begin work on three seven-story buildings that will house retail and residential units. The group also will start work on three stand-alone restaurants and two office buildings, all of which should open about the same time as the city's buildings in 2009.
Demolition of the former shopping center will last 18 months, largely because crews must await the February exodus of the Department of Motor Vehicles before razing the central part of the center. If it weren't for that, Community Redevelopment Agency Director Glenn Vann says, L.E.B. Demolition could rip through the aging walls of concrete and stucco in half that time, scraping up the massive parking lot and underground utility pipes as it goes.
While Beall's Department Store and Dollar General will remain open for years because of long-term lease agreements, all other buildings will vanish by mid-2008.
In their place will rise a Mediterranean-themed cluster of stores, offices, restaurants and homes, a close replica of West Palm Beach's CityPlace but situated on nearly twice the land. Pedestrians will stroll along tree-lined sidewalks just feet from slow-moving traffic, and cars will be tucked out of view in parking garages.
For Joe Holiday, president of the St. Lucie Professional Arts League, the promise of the city's first public art gallery means more than paintings and jazz performances.
It means the arrival of a true city.
"Art and music is the soul of any city," said Holiday, who longs to bring musicians and visiting artists to the 4,000-square-foot art gallery inside the civic center. "You need your stores and offices, but when you've got music and art, you feel a sense of completion."
PORT ST. LUCIE — Port St. Lucie now has a biotech research center to call its own, which the mayor says will mark the city's transformation from bedroom community to regional economic development engine.
Richard Houghten, president and founder of Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies said in a news release Monday that his board of directors has chosen Port St. Lucie as its 'preferred expansion site contingent upon approval of proposed financial incentives by the Florida Legislature.
With a $90 million incentive package combined from the city, county, state, developer of Tradition and Florida Atlantic University, Torrey Pines is on track to make Port St. Lucie its future headquarters, eventually housing 189 employees and linked with two start-up companies.
The news comes on the heels of Port St. Lucie's losing bid for fellow La Jolla, Calif.-based research center the Burnham Institute for Medical Research.
Torrey Pines fulfills the region's push to be a player in research and education and will serve as a northern anchor to local officials' hopes of creating a life science corridor along Interstate 95 from the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter to Port St. Lucie.
'The potential that this creates for the future is absolutely mind-boggling,' said Mayor Bob Minsky. 'We can go ahead and compete with all the bigger cities who, 10 years ago, didn't know we existed.
Port St. Lucie beat out Boca Raton and Tallahassee for Torrey Pines. Construction of Torrey Pines' 100,000-square-foot home will be paid for by the city's economic development impact fee on new home construction.
Torrey Pines will cost the city about $30 million less than it expected to spend for Burnham. That savings likely will be passed down to developers and homebuyers, who might see a decrease in the proposed $2,000-per-house fee being charged to pay for Burnham.
'It's definitely more within our means,' Councilman Christopher Cooper said.
City officials seemed happy about the news Monday — Torrey Pines is the biggest business to come to Port St. Lucie since the QVC call center, Minsky said. But, compared to the reception awaiting Burnham last month, the mood was positively low-key.
No champagne was chilled, no statements prepared. Torrey Pines founder Houghten received the key to the city weeks ago, but wasn't around Monday to shake the mayor's hand.
Burnham's rejection kept hopes from getting too high, Minsky said. The old adage, 'Once burned, twice shy, rang true.
'We received one black eye in the process,' Cooper said. 'I think it's best to wait 'til we get all our ducks in a row.
Until the new headquarters is completed, Torrey Pines will set up shop in 15,000 square feet at Florida Atlantic University's new marine science center at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute that is set to open in November.
The two-year lease is a part of FAU's $6.5 million offering to Torrey Pines, which includes access to equipment and faculty and graduate students assigned to the research center.
The research center is seeking $30 million from the state's Innovation Incentive fund, the same source from that provided $156 million for Burnham last month.
There are no expected problems in getting the local and state incentives approved, said Larry Pelton, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County.
'The attitude of this community is so 'can do' and I am expecting absolutely 100 percent support,' Pelton said.
Torrey Pines could also be the beginning of Core Communities' vision to create a five-mile job corridor along I-95 at Tradition, its 8,200-acre master planned community in western Port St. Lucie. As part of its incentive package, Torrey Pines will receive 20 acres of land at Tradition.
PORT ST. LUCIE — One of the Treasure Coast most luxurious neighborhoods soon may get what a developer says should be an equally lavish neighborhood center.
The Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp. intends to build The Shoppes at Veranda Falls, the first phase of the Huizenga family's planned mixed-use development on Becker Road near Florida's Turnpike.
The 94,000-square-foot neighborhood center will be anchored by a Publix supermarket and is slated to open in mid-2007.
In a press release, the Stiles Corp. says this won't be an average strip center, but rather a gateway to Huizenga's planned residential, hotel, retail and office project.
Much like Huizenga's nearby Floridian Golf Club and Marina, the center will be designed to look like a "Southern plantation village." Various water features, including waterfalls, lakes and stone-lined pools, will surround the center.
It also will be designed to complement nearby tony developments, including Harbor Ridge, Martin Downs, Evergreen Club and Tesoro Club, the Ginn Company's 1,000-unit residential community and golf club.
The balance of the center will be made up of retail space, including "three premier restaurants," according to the Stiles release.
Through its various subsidiaries, Stiles will design, develop, construct and lease the center, but won't own the land, said spokeswoman Nancy Brusher. She added that Stiles has had along affiliation with the Miami Dolphins owner and his company.
Port St. Lucie is no longer America's fastest-growing city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but with the population reaching 150,000 and economic development just beginning, city officials say losing the top growth title doesn't matter.
Elk Grove, Calif., just south of Sacramento, nabbed the title of America's fastest-growing city by increasing its population by 11.6 percent between 2004 and 2005.
Port St. Lucie, with an 11 percent growth rate, fell to the third fastest-growing city in the country but remains the fastest-growing in Florida for cities of a population of more than 100,000.
"We're still maintaining our high growth rate," Mayor Bob Minsky said, and that rate likely will soar with recent economic development successes in the city.
"It's going to take off like a helium balloon in a vacuum," Minsky said. "Once the ball starts rolling and you start getting things rolling, it's going to be like waving a red flag at all these people out there who are like, 'Where do we want to go?'"
Indeed, according to city estimates, Port St. Lucie's population will top 150,000 this month, city spokesman Ed Cunningham said. Census reports put the population at 131,692 last July.
Relatively cheap housing has driven Port St. Lucie's population boom. New residents such as Chuck McGowen, a Realtor from Boca Raton, moved to the city in January 2005 to get away from high housing costs in South Florida.
By buying a four-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot home in Port St. Lucie instead of Boca Raton, McGowen said he saved roughly $100,000.
But McGowen works from home and commutes. Residents and city officials all say the city must create more jobs and amenities if it wants to maintain growth.
Being America's fastest-growing city helped put Port St. Lucie on the national business radar, city officials said. California-based biomedical researcher, The Burnham Institute, is considering the city for a satellite campus, and other research firms are considering relocating here.
But remaining America's fastest-growing city wasn't really important, officials say.
"We don't need to be No. 1," Councilwoman Michelle Berger said. "There's enough pressure on the city itself ... to grow economic development. That's what we're looking for now: to maintain balance as we grow."
PORT ST. LUCIE POPULATION
The city's population hit 100,000 in 2003, when it ranked sixth on the U.S. Census Bureau's annual list of America's fastest-growing cities. Since then, the population boom has continued.
July 2004: 118,655
July 2005: 131,692
June 2006: 150,000*
* Port St. Lucie estimate
Elk Grove, Calif., had the nation’s fastest growth rate among large cities (100,000 or more population) between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005, according to new U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.
Located south of Sacramento, Elk Grove is a relatively new city, having incorporated less than six years ago. Elk Grove’s population increased 12 percent during the period, to 112,338. It was joined on the list of the 10 fastest-growing cities by three others in California: Moreno Valley (ranking sixth), Rancho Cucamonga (seventh) and Irvine (10th). These three cities are each located in southern California.
Florida had three cities among the fastest growing: Port St. Lucie (third), Cape Coral (fifth) and Miramar (eighth). Two cities in Arizona were in the top 10 — Gilbert (fourth) and Chandler (eighth) — and, relatively nearby, North Las Vegas, Nev., was second.
Phoenix had the largest population increase of any city between 2004 and 2005. San Antonio; Fort Worth, Texas; North Las Vegas, Nev.; and Gilbert, Ariz., rounded out the list of the five biggest numerical gainers.
New York City continued to be the nation’s most populous city, with 8.1 million residents in 2005. This was more than twice the population of Los Angeles, which ranked second at 3.8 million. The estimates show that among the 10 largest cities, one change has occurred in the rankings: San Antonio has replaced San Diego as the nation’s seventh most populous city.
A new neighborhood park, Elks Park, opens today in eastern Port St. Lucie, city officials said. The 3.5-acre park features two play structures and a fishing pier that overlooks the junction of three waterways.
There also is a half-court basketball area, picnic tables and a grill, and a five-station exercise course.
"It's big enough to have a family reunion, 50 to 100 people," said Tonya Russell, city recreation manager. People can fish for bass, catfish and crappy under the pier, she said.
Construction started last fall on the park, which cost just more than $500,000. The park is at 2264 S.E. W. Blackwell Drive. Hours are dawn until dusk.
Port St. Lucie celebrates its 45th birthday this month with a population that is surging toward 150,000.
The recent change has been dramatic. In its first 30 years, the city welcomed 55,000 residents. In the past three years, about 45,000 people moved here. The Census Bureau calls it America's fastest growing city.
That explosive growth is straining city services and relations with its neighbors, igniting political feuds with Martin and St. Lucie counties.
The face of the city also is changing: more families with children, more newcomers from South Florida instead of the Northeast, more diversity.
1961: On April 21, Port St. Lucie filed for incorporation. Port St. Lucie Boulevard paved from U.S. 1 to Morningside Boulevard.
1970: Census results indicate city's year-round population is 330. The city has only one doctor until 1980.
1980: The city's population jumps to 14,000.
1988: New York Mets training facility opens.
1990: General Development Corp. declares bankruptcy.
1994: The city embarks on a citywide water-sewer project despite criticism about cost.
1999: Early census numbers indicate the city exceeds West Palm Beach by more than 3,000 people.
2001: $20 million in state funds earmarked for the Walton Road Bridge is moved to fund the West Virginia Corridor.
2003: The population tops 100,000.
2004: Fifteen square miles west of Interstate 95 annexed. The area includes a large job corridor along I-95.
2005: Census names Port St. Lucie the fastest-growing large city in the country.
2006: By the city's 45th birthday, the population nears 150,000.
PORT ST. LUCIE — For Ray Correa, finding the city was a gift from God — one he's sharing with his extended family.
In 2002, Correa, 37, and wife Rosie, 36, visited his aunt and uncle in Pembroke Pines. The couple wanted out of New York City to give sunshine and trees to their baby, Crystal. But Pembroke Pines and Broward County were as paved and packed as the city.
Discouraged, the couple was five minutes from leaving for a flight home when Rosie's cell phone rang. A construction company they'd talked to years before wanted to know if they still were interested in a Florida home.
Yes, Rosie said, but where would they recommend a young family move?
Port St. Lucie.
"Five minutes — we could have ignored that phone call," Ray said. "It's a blessing from God."
Almost 45,000 people have found Port St. Lucie since 2003, when the Correas moved to the Treasure Coast.
Those people represent an era of unprecedented growth. Ignited mostly by families seeking affordable housing, the population explosion is transforming the face of the 45-year-old city from retirement community to a diverse and sprawling urban area.
The boom included the Correas' aunt and uncle, Andres "Andy" and Socorro "Cookie" Velez, who moved from Pembroke Pines in 2004.
Port St. Lucie was too quiet, too dark and too isolated for the Velezes when they first visited three years ago. But as Pembroke traffic got worse and their house rose in value, a move north became more appealing.
The area's rapid growth was part of the attraction for Andy, an attorney hoping to start his own firm. With a 75 percent homeownership rate and dozens moving into the city every day, Andy, 47, would have plenty of titles, immigration cases and personal injury suits to keep busy.
In a house around the corner from their niece and nephew, Cookie, 52, and Andy settled in with their son Justin, 10. Later, Cookie's daughter from a previous marriage, Christina Perez, 31, moved from New York with her son Eric, 11.
Andy opened his law firm in a Port St. Lucie Boulevard office, the boys started school and Christina began teaching second grade at Lakewood Park Elementary in Fort Pierce.
But the move wasn't entirely smooth.
"I was kind of lost here," Cookie said. "It's like the boonies. ... There's no closeness."
Port St. Lucie has grown from an empty framework of roads to a quickly filling city, but empty lots still litter many neighborhoods. Four of every 10 lots remain empty in the St. James area, where the Correas and Velezes live.
More than 14,000 families with children live in Port St. Lucie — a 34 percent increase since 2000 — but it's not always easy for neighbors to get together for play dates or parties. Many parents still commute to jobs south of the city. About 25,000 workers travel daily to Martin County.
Meanwhile, children are bused to schools all around the city and county; kids sometimes see other kids in their neighborhood only at bus stops.
But Eric and Justin found friends playing basketball in nearby Chuck Ray Park.
The family met more people after joining the New Christian Life Church, and Cookie went back to work, handling secretarial duties part-time for a construction company.
Still, Christina says life is not easy in Port St. Lucie for the young and single.
The city's average age is 40 — old enough to be settled, often with kids — and the recreational opportunities reflect this. City parks have spectacular jungle gyms, but running tracks and racquetball courts are rare. SuperPlay USA, a new bowling alley and recreational facility just opened in St. Lucie West, but getting a good cup of coffee often is difficult.
Christina made monthly treks south to Miami for nights out dancing. As often as she could, she would hop a plane to New York. For awhile, she considered moving to Miami. But her son stopped her.
In his year at Oak Hammock K-8 School, Eric has made honor roll. He has good friends and discovered he likes learning.
"You just wouldn't get that attention in New York," Christina said.
Eric isn't the only one who has excelled since coming to Port St. Lucie. Christina was the minority teacher of the year at her school. She sees room for advancement and dreams of buying a home of their own.
Prices are rising in Port St. Lucie, but they still are lower than South Florida.
The city's median home price is $248,400, but the median prices in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are, respectively, $391,000 and $360,800.
Those prices, combined with the lure of family, are bringing relatives of the Velezes and Correas to Port St. Lucie.
About a year ago, Andy's mother moved from Pembroke Pines into The Cove, an age-restricted community across Manville Road. Mija, as they call her, comes over for dinner nearly every night and the boys practice Spanish with her.
The family is Puerto Rican, but Cookie said Eric and Justin became more interested in being bilingual after they moved to Port St. Lucie, where many of their friends speak Spanish.
With the growth boom has come a major increase in the Hispanic population. The city has about 12,000 Hispanic residents, according to estimates based on the 2000 Census — nearly double the number in 2000.
The Velezes and Correas say their neighborhood is filled with people of all backgrounds.
"It's a good diverse neighborhood, Port St. Lucie," Ray said. "My daughter is learning that people are just people."
Some of Ray's cousins are considering moving from New York or other areas of Florida to Port St. Lucie to reunite the family and to provide a better life for their kids.
As their family gathers, the Correas count their blessings.
Rosie grew up in the Bronx wanting a house with a white picket fence and a yard for her kids to play in.
She doesn't have the fence, but she's got the house, the yard and a pool for Crystal, now 5, and Matthew, 16 months.
"It's quiet. We have nice weather. The kids do more here," Rosie said. "It's a more innocent life."
Prayers to the shopping gods made by residents in southwest Port St. Lucie have been answered.
No longer will they have to make the arduous trek to Jensen Beach to shop at stores like Target or Old Navy. By mid-2007, those stores, along with a host of others, will be entering America's fastest growing city along Gatlin Boulevard on both sides of its I-95 exit.
With three power shopping centers and one neighborhood center, Gatlin will boast roughly 1.5 million square feet of retail space. The stores will be concentrated in a span of just two miles between Rosser Boulevard and Village Parkway.
The Landing at Tradition will likely be the first completed. There, at least 10 national retailers will open their first shops in St. Lucie County, said Alan Karrh, director of retail marketing for Tradition. Work crews are preparing the land now and construction is scheduled to begin by early summer.
In addition to fulfilling the shopping needs of an under-served market, the retail developments will help ease road congestion, because area residents won't have to enter Martin County.
"Getting to the Treasure Coast Square Mall is 30 minutes-plus on a good day," said Port St. Lucie councilman Christopher Cooper. "Now, residents will have the amenities near their homes."
Locals won't be the only ones to benefit from the new retail hub. City manager Don Cooper said that he anticipated many Palm City residents would find Port St. Lucie more accessible via Florida's Turnpike than Treasure Coast Square Mall is via Monterey Road and U.S. 1.Don Cooper added that the Gatlin Road projects represent just the beginning of retail development in western Port St. Lucie.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, Tradition will begin working on its regional shopping center, Karrh said. The master-planned community has a pending development of regional impact that includes a 1.5 million-square-foot center.
The unnamed center would be larger than either Treasure Coast Square Mall at 1.2 million square feet or Indian River Mall at 860,000 square feet.
If approved, Tradition executives will begin work on deciding where the center should go in Southern Groves, which fronts the interstate from Gatlin to Becker Road. They will also determine if the center should be a traditional mall or a lifestyle center, similar to CityPlace in West Palm Beach.
If all goes to plan, the center could open as early as 2009, Karrh said.
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