Port Saint Lucie

History

Port Saint Lucie was a largely uninhabited tract of land south of White City, Florida in the 1950s, composed of a fishing camp, a few farms and businesses near US 1. In 1958, with a budget of $50 million, the General Development Corporation (GDC) purchased the River Park development and 40,000 acres along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.[5] In 1959, the GDC opened its first bridge over the St. Lucie River, allowing for direct automobile access to Port St. Lucie.

By February 25, 1961 there were 250 homes in the new city. GDC requested the state legislature to incorporate 70 miles (110 km) along with the River Park settlement into the City of Port St. Lucie. River Park did not incorporate into the city at the request of its residents. Port St. Lucie became a city on April 27, 1961 with the passage of House Bill No. 953, proposed by State Representative Rupert Smith and approved by Florida Governor C. Farris Bryant.[6]

In the early 1990s, Core Communities (CC), acquired, and began planning on what would become St. Lucie West. Originally, St. Lucie West was planned to have contained about 14,000 homes over a 20-year period on 7 square miles (18 km2). But after realizing the communities strategic position, they began developing it into more than just a residential area. CC began building business sectors and places where people could have fun. That resulted in 7,000 jobs being brought to the small town, helping it into its boom during most of the early 2000s.[7]

In 2006, CC, yet again, started development of its newest community, Tradition. The community, which sat west of the Interstate 95 intersection of Gatlin Blvd., was a large cattle ranch, before CC began to develop it. There they built around 13,000,000 square feet (1,200,000 m2) of commercial area, and room for over 18,000 residences. According to CC's website, Tradition is the largest fully-entitled residential development area from the tip of Interstate 95 to the Canadian Border. It has been advertised as the town you grew up in, modeled after a 1950s-era town. According to its website, Tradition Square, the town center of the community, holds year long festivities. It was also chosen as the site of HGTV's Green Home 2009, and one of America's best 100 communities.[7]

In 2007, the housing market began to collapse and unemployment started to rise. As of February 2009, unemployment was at 10½ percent and in 2008, nearly 11,000 homes went into foreclosure. This has prompted the county government to consider declaring itself a disaster area. Doing so would give county administrators access to $17 million in county emergency reserve funds. That money, combined with a transportation fund and other accounts, would give St. Lucie $20 million or $30 million to spend on building projects: research parks, highways and other infrastructure improvements.[8]

In 2008, Tradition and CC welcomed the Florida Center of Innovation, a research laboratory and campus, which has a building in Tradition for two biotech and life science companies, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies and the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute. This campus alone is predicted to bring over 30,000 jobs to the city of Port St. Lucie, alone.[7]

Demographics

As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 88,769 people, 33,909 households, and 25,736 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,175.1 people per square mile (453.7/km²). There were 36,785 housing units at an average density of 487.0/sq mi (188.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.88% White, 7.09% African American, 1.24% Asian, 0.23% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.77% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.52% of the population.

There were 33,909 households out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.3% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $40,509, and the median income for a family was $44,162. Males had a median income of $18,730 versus $16,702 for females.[citation needed] The per capita income for the city was $18,059. About 15.7% of families and 17.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.1% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.
The State of Florida estimated that Port St. Lucie's population had reached 155,251 as of April 2009.[1]