FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The King's Landing development in Fort Pierce, lately hanging in the balance, may go through after all.
City commissioners on Friday granted Dale Matteson, the president of Audubon Development, a 45-day extension to meet deadlines associated with the development.
The city called a special meeting to discuss the development's future after accusing Matteson of missing multiple deadlines associated with the project.
"We're responding to the city because we didn't meet the deadline for some plans," Matteson told WPTV reporter Kate Hussey. "We missed the deadline because we've been busy remediating a site we thought was clean."
In 2019, the city awarded Matteson a request for proposal for the old H.D. King Power Plant site in downtown Fort Pierce.
The project was set to include:
- 116 residential units
- 106 condos
- 10 townhomes
- 140-room hotel
- 35,000 square feet for restaurant use
- 17,000 square feet for retail use
- 179-space parking garage | 129 surface parking spaces and 308 total parking spaces
Matteson even built in plans for a potential Brightline station if awarded a request for proposal from the high-speed passenger rail line.
In 2022, Matteson received the official title to the land and in October 2023, WPTV reported construction was set to begin after 500 dump trucks arrived at the site.
"The trucks were coming every day, early in the morning," business owner Lyly Irizarry said. "They were coming to take dirt out, and I've noticed it's completely stopped."
Construction abruptly halted at about when the city said Matteson violated his contract by missing the deadline for construction of Phase I and the deadline to submit an application for a building permit, among other timelines.
Now, mounds of dirt sit idle and fragments of caution tape are the last remaining sign of life on the downtown site. Matteson is now firing back.
"The request for proposal that the city put out was corrupt," Matteson said. "It has misinformation."
Matteson said the city told him the old power plant was completely removed from the site, but when crews started digging they found 1,500 tons of concrete from the plant's foundation 4 feet beneath the surface.
"So it wasn't remediated. It wasn't ready for development," Matteson said. "It's like, the city removed the headstones and left the graves."
Matteson also said it was because of title issues with the city that he wasn't able to close on the land until April 2022, more than two years after being awarded the project.
He also said the city told him the Florida Department of Environmental Protection certified the land was clean of contaminants but said when he tried to build found out that certification was conditional.
"The site was clean so long as nobody moved any dirt," Matteson said. "Tough to build anything without moving any dirt, so we had to go back through the environmental process."
Matteson said that took several months and an investment of $1.5 million, which he said the city is supposed to reimburse him for. He said so far the city has only paid him $170,000.
The site is now ready for development, but because of Matteson's breach of contract, it hangs in the balance. That is much to the horror of folks who paid $2,500 to reserve a home.
Fort Pierce
Major downtown Fort Pierce development clears final hurdle to begin construction
A woman named Deborah who spoke up in a Fort Pierce Development Meeting said she bought one of the model homes for $1.5 million and was receiving $8,000 in interest per month from Matteson until this past March.
"He quit paying the interest. When I asked about the money back, he said he couldn't give me the money back," the woman, who did not provide her last name, said. "This was important to me at this time in my life. I was counting on this for income. Everyone thought this was a good investment and it's not."
"Is there a scenario where Deborah and the others who invested in the property don't get their money back?" Hussey asked.
"No, Deborah Downs is the only investor that we had," Matteson said. "Everyone that's asked for a refund on a reservation has received one."
Matteson said if the city did not extend the deadlines, he'd seek litigation. Since they agreed, that isn't on the table. At least, not right now.
Many WPTV viewers asked if Brightline picking Stuart for a station impacted the project at all.
Matteson said the timing of Brightline's decision lining up with the halting of construction was purely coincidental.
"We Want Things To Work. We Want This To Happen"
After the 45-day extension was approved, Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson spoke with WPTV reporter Joel Lopez about the future of the project.
"He's going to come and speak to us May 14 at the FPRA (Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency) meeting with some alternative timelines and with hotel promises," Hudson said. "We're going to see in these 45 days what is going to happen, and if we think it's really going to happen."
"If they were failing to meet their deadlines, why not just move to a new developer?" Lopez asked.
"Well, we have an agreement with (Matteson), and he seems to believe that there might be some things that we should have done," Hudson responded. "I think we need to look at that and make sure."
WPTV asked Hudson what she thought about Matteson's reason for the construction delays.
"(The developer's) end of the conversation is that the lot of land wasn't as prepared as they thought, which is what was causing the delay. What do you have to say about that?" asked Lopez.
"I'm not going to comment on that," Hudson said. "That's something we're going to look at further."
She said they are working to make King's Landing a reality.
"We want to protect the taxpayer and we want to protect our agreement," Hudson said. "We want things to work. We want this to happen."