PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The city of Port St Lucie is rolling out the welcome mat for a future Costco, but city leaders are leaving it to the superstore to open the door.
This isn’t the first time the city has tried to entice the wholesale store.
Now, Mayor Greg Oravec is taking to YouTube to get the company’s attention.
Addressing Costco leaders he said, "I think we can work out a deal. You can have a premier site in the southern grove portion of tradition, for a purchase price of zero dollars. Zero dollars, subject only to taxes and assessments.”
Costco has faced roadblocks in the past in Martin County. In 2017, they pulled out of Palm City because of opposition.
Another attempt near Kanner Highway fizzled after a failure to reach a purchasing deal.
The latest sales pitch from Port Saint Lucie includes a deal for land in the city-owned Southern Grove area where there are 11 hundred acres available for commercial development.
The surrounding community is growing at a rate Mayor Oravec describes as "meteoric," and residents of neighboring Valencia Cay agree.
Port St. Lucie resident, Frank Franze says,” The area we’re talking about has at least 10,000 homes, so that’s 10,000 fewer people who are going to have to go to the east side of 95 if the Costco comes over here.”
The mayor was out of town at the time this story aired but in messages with WPTV when asked about how soon this can happens he says, there are not many obstacles to moving forward.
"That’s the thing...there are no roadblocks in Port St. Lucie. Once Costco would express interest we would be off to the races. If they chose a city-owned site in Southern Grove, it would be very straightforward, and I always like to point to examples that we can touch and see. For instance, look at City Electric, which is 400,000 ft.², even bigger than a Costco. Its groundbreaking was in September 2018, and it is completely dried in and well on its way to completion.”
Over the last nine months, according to the mayor, more than 500 homes were sold in Valencia Cay.