Port Saint Lucie, FL 1 of 110 Active Retirement Communities Location

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Ivan Gillis

Active Retirement Communities

State: Florida

City: Port Saint Lucie

Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The population of Port St. Lucie was 88,769 at the 2000 census. Port St. Lucie forms part of a metropolitan area called the Port St. Lucie, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area that in 2007 had 400,121 residents.

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 US1. 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. 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 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.

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 million square feet 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.

In 2007, the housing market began to collapse and unemployment started to rise. As of February 2009, unemployment was at 10 1/2 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.

In 2008, Tradition and CC welcomed the Florida Center of Innovation, a research laboratory and campus, which has a building in Traditon 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.

.Income & Housing Costs Numbers:

Estimated median household income in 2008: $50,502 (it was $40,509 in 2000)

Port St. Lucie:

$50,502

Florida:

$47,778

Estimated per capita income in 2008: $22,269

Estimated median house or condo value in 2008: $206,200 (it was $87,700 in 2000)

Port St. Lucie:

$206,200

Florida:

$218,700

Median gross rent in 2008: $1,142.

Dec. 2009 cost of living index in Port St. Lucie: 88.6 (less than average, U.S. average is 100)

In-Depth Facts and Figures as listed below, plus other information:

· Climate Charts

1. Average Temperature

2. Precipitation (Rain)

3. Humidity

4. Wind Speed (MPH)

5. Snowfall

6. Sunshine

7. Cloudy Days

· Tornado Activity History

· Hospitals & Medical

· Airports

· Colleges/Universities