Blumenfeld Development Group

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Shopping Bonanza

When Angel Tyrrell moved to Port St. Lucie 25 years ago, she had to jump in her car and go out of town to do most of her shopping.

Today it’s a different story. More than two million square feet of shopping centers are in the planning stages or under construction for a population that exceeds 163,000. “It is just so different” she said. “There have been tremendous changes, especially in the amount of retail shopping available.”

In contrast to modest beginnings as a two-lane road mostly known for model homes, bustling six-lane Port St. Lucie Boulevard is filled with shops and professional businesses, with more shopping centers under way.

Sleekly efficient Gatlin Boulevard, formerly a two-lane country road connecting to Port St. Lucie Boulevard to Interstate 95, is the hub of commercial construction that no one even dreamed of 20 or 25 years ago when the population was a mere 16,000. Looming on the horizon from Gatlin to Becker Road on the southern edge of the county are major shopping centers that will rise between now and 2012.

“I have waited a long, long time for this,” Tyrrell said. “I hear there’s a regional mall coming and it will be on Becker right in my neighborhood. Right now I have to drive to Martin County for everything. But the gas prices are so high, and I think it’s also important to keep our money local. I am really happy about this.”

Tyrrell is right about the regional mall. Core Communities, developer of Tradition at Gatlin Boulevard and I-95, sold 220 acres on the north side of Becker Road to Taubman Centers Inc., the developer of the Mall at Wellington Green. In 2012, Tyrrell will be a hop, skip and a jump from 1.4 million square feet of retail shops, 400,000 square feet of office space, 250 hotel rooms and 900 residential units. Across the street from the regional mall, Core is self-developing a 400,000 square foot shopping center called Becker Commons.

Carolyn Hendricks, who lives in Tradition, is tickled with The Landing, which opened earlier this year on the development’s eastern edge. “There’s just tons of stuff there,” she said. “For anyone who lives in or near Tradition, it’s great. You don’t have to drive anywhere. They have a Target, some shoe stores, Petsmart, Dress Barn, Bed Bath and Beyond, Pier 1 Imports, Office Max, Sports Authority, TJ Maxx and a lot of others,” she said. “When they added The Landing it made this like a whole new community.’’

Village Pointe, with 400,000 square feet of retail space and 200,000 square feet for offices, will be completed within Tradition in 2010.

With all the retail construction on Gatlin Boulevard, just outside of the Tradition development near Interstate 95, “everything has just been springing up all around here,” Hendricks said.

Gatlin will be home to three of the biggest shopping centers in the city, with a combined total of more than 1 million square feet.

In Gatlin Plaza, Home Depot is already open. Kohl’s is planning to begin construction on a department store in the plaza in a few months. Tanger Outlet Mall will open in the same vicinity. Gatlin Commons is home to Wal-Mart, and a Sam’s is under construction.

“If it’s not in St. Lucie West or Tradition, it’s on Gatlin,” said Angel Tyrrell, who frequently drives between her home on Becker Road and St. Lucie West to do her shopping. She gets on I-95 at Gatlin.

Port St. Lucie Mayor Pat Christensen estimates that in the last 18 months $150 million to $200 million has been spent on commercial construction in the city.

“It’s providing such a lot of jobs,” she said. “Right now 40 percent of our residents go south to work. But we’re still more affordable than the counties to the south. When these shopping centers are completed, 60 percent of our sales taxable money will be spent here instead of outside the county.”People who live in the U.S. 1 vicinity will probably still travel to Jensen Beach to shop, she said.

The 120-store Treasure Coast Square mall in Jensen is the area’s only regional mall right now. A 25,000 square foot expansion is in the works, scheduled to open in August, 2008, said spokeswoman Erin Holley. It will include an Ann Taylor Loft, Christopher & Banks, C.J. Banks, and Sam Seltzer Steakhouse.

For the past two years, St. Lucie West has been inundated with commercial construction. Office buildings, professional plazas, light industrial buildings, and retail stores are filling up property fronting on St. Lucie West Boulevard and Peacock Boulevard.

Town Center of St. Lucie West, under construction at the corner of St. Lucie West and Peacock boulevards, already has several open stores, including a Starbucks, but construction is nearing completion behind them for a Beall’s, Steinmart, Staples, Circuit City, Petco, AC Moore craft store, and a Fridays, said Benderson Development spokesman Mark Chait.

“We expect to open in the summer of 2008,” he said.

Margo Groff, who lives in the Country Club Estates section of St. Lucie West, will be happy when some clothing stores open in St. Lucie West. She has to travel to Jensen Beach or Vero Beach to find a good selection of women’s clothing now. “There was just no place to buy a little black dress,” she said.

That’s been a complaint voiced by the women who live in St. Lucie West for years.

But fortunately, the days when Groff, Tyrrell and others have to jump in their cars and drive to another county to find a good department store are numbered.

“I can’t wait,” Tyrrell said, thinking of the bonanza of shopping delights that are on their way. “I just can’t wait.”