The Sunshine State Is Bright For Business

St. Lucie County: Prime Southeast Florida Location

What do the Sansone Group, Tambone Companies, Hope Commercial Holdings, JBL Asset Management, the Silverman Group, Seefried Industrial Properties, Stonemont Financial Group, and others have in common? All are developing industrial facilities in St. Lucie County, Florida.

Located midway between Miami and Orlando, within a three-hour drive of 70% of Florida’s population, St. Lucie County offers, by far, southeastern Florida’s lowest industrial land cost, unmatched speed-to-market, and eight commerce parks with 5.8 million square feet of speculative industrial facility space.

In St. Lucie County, Legacy Park at Tradition by the Sansone Group continues to attract tenants. (Photo: Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County)

The sites have excellent access to Interstate 95 and Florida’s Turnpike, as well as options for rail, ocean, and air transit. St. Lucie County is the northernmost point in Florida where I-95 and the turnpike meet. The entire county is a designated Foreign Trade Zone.

The county and its two cities, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie (Florida’s seventh largest city), provide exceptional speed-to-market. For example, a 106,000-square-foot expansion with environmental considerations was approved in 41 days, and 1.1 million square feet of new construction in 89 days.

“In addition to our location, land availability, low costs, and workforce our county, municipalities and the EDC work closely together to ensure companies interested in creating jobs here receive expedited review, tax incentives if qualified, and the kind of sincere welcome not often experienced elsewhere,” said Pete Tesch, President of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County.

Industrial and commerce parks with speculative facility construction or permitting currently underway include:

• Legacy Park at Tradition by the Sansone Group which features a 168,000 square foot Class A industrial facility slated for 2022 occupancy, a 520,000-square-foot facility for 2023, plus 5.4 million square feet of development-ready vacant land.
• St. Lucie Commerce Center by Hope Commercial Holdings: up to 1.1 million-square-foot project with a 2023 projected occupancy.
• Interstate Commerce Center by JBL Asset Management features up to 225,000 square feet, ready in 2023.
• Five additional parks leasing from 16,000 to 1.1 million square feet, ready in 2022 and 2023.

The Port St. Lucie MSA offers a dynamic workforce of 230,000+ and low average labor costs. A 2021 study noted that 62.4% of the county’s workforce out-commutes, highlighting opportunity to draw these commuters to new local jobs.

Robust career and technical training programs are offered by St. Lucie Public Schools and Indian River State College (IRSC). In addition to degree programs, IRSC provides short-term, in-demand career certifications. With a 98% high school graduation rate and 35+ career and technical education programs, St. Lucie’s non-college-bound youth have many options to prepare for successful careers in targeted industries.

In addition to direct access via I-95 and Florida’s Turnpike, Highway 70 connects the county to Florida’s west coast. Florida East Coast Railroad runs along U.S. 1 and the 3,660-acre Treasure Coast International airport has U.S. Customs officials on-site and a full-service FBO.

St. Lucie County is in a spectacular setting with enviable natural resources—21 miles of pristine coastline and beaches, 20,000+ acres of parks and preserves, and miles of waterways.