Record-Breaking 1.1M SF Logistics Center to be Largest Building in St. Lucie

Editor’s note: This story has been modified to correct the building dimensions of Legacy Park. 

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — An Atlanta-based real estate company is developing what’s expected to be the largest building in unincorporated county.

Stonemont Financial Group Wednesday broke ground on the South Florida Logistics Center 95 — which consists of a 1.1 million-square-foot building and a 245,300 square-foot rear-load facility —  at the Orange Avenue and South Kings Highway intersection.

“The location of this development provides an immediate competitive advantage for e-commerce providers and other logistics operators who have to meet growing consumer demand for rapid delivery,” said Zack Markwell, Stonemont managing principal and CEO.

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The company — which owns and manages more than $4.5 billion worth of property in Florida, according to an Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County news release — has “been fielding a number of inquiries from prospective users” to lease between 50,000-sqaure-feet and 1.1 million-square-feet of the building.

As of Thursday,  there are no tenants yet, but some large distribution and Fortune 500 companies have shown interest, said Sky Groden, executive managing director of JLL, the real estate management company overseeing leases.

The desire for many of those interested companies, according to developers, is to be near South Florida’s rapidly growing population and have easy access to northern ports in Jacksonville and Savannah, Markwell said.

For example, Palm Beach International Airport and the Port of Palm Beach would be 61 miles to the south. PortMiami is 132 miles away and the Orlando International Airport is 107 miles to the north. Additionally, it would take less than five minutes to drive from the logistics center to Florida’s Turnpike and Interstate 95.

The building — which would be the biggest in all of northern St. Lucie County — is expected to be operational by early 2023, according to developers.

Developers did not request economic development incentives for this project, according to county spokesperson Erick Gill.

Local leaders praised the project and the projected 898 jobs it’s expected to create — an estimate generated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration —  especially since 62% of the workforce here commutes out of the county for work, according to County Commission Chair Sean Mitchell.

Stonemont’s building is slightly larger than Amazon’s fulfillment center in Port St. Lucie.

Other large commercial developments in the county include Legacy Park in Tradition — home to Cheney Brothers, Amazon and FedEx. That complex is expected to consist of 5 million square-feet across multiple buildings.

Olivia McKelvey is TCPalm’s watchdog reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach her at olivia.mckelvey@tcpalm.com, 772-521-4380 and on Twitter @olivia_mckelvey.