Fort Pierce finalizes port land purchase for refit facility

Dec 16, 2017 by Dorie Cox

By Dorie Cox

County commissioners in St. Lucie County, Florida, gave final approval Dec. 12 to buying 12 acres of land in the Port of Fort Pierce for $25 million. The county plans to hire a company to do yacht refits and repairs on the property, according to a story in TCPalm online.

The deal is scheduled to close Jan. 21. After that, high levels of arsenic found onsite  will be removed from the soil at an estimated cost of $300,000 to $400,000.

The timeline for bids will be issued within the next few months, said Stan Payne, director of the Port of Fort Pierce. A facility operator will be chosen about three to four months after that.

“Hopefully we’ll have someone in place between May and July, depending on what happens with some other things we’re working on,” Payne said.

Industry veteran Capt. Buddy Haack has recently worked on M/Y Double Down and M/Y Axis on the property and plans to submit a bid to manage the facility.

“I’m hoping to have a commitment with the county,” Haack said by phone in mid-December. “I definitely will be applying.”

The land purchase includes the submerged lands around the property, as well as a 10 percent stake in 67 acres owned by Destin Beach, a company owned by the Lloyd Bell family.

— Dorie Cox

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About Dorie Cox

Dorie Cox is a writer with Triton News.

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