Tipping the county’s hand New administrator is introduced
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ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 3/ISSUE 15
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015
Crosstown area homes to help SWAT be more prepared Brandon Zeris STAFF WRITER
bzeris@YourVoiceWeekly.com
PORT ST. LUCIE — For the first time, the Port St. Lucie Police Department’s SWAT team won’t have to worry about dirtying up a home for training. The City Council gave the department full reign, at its Jan. 26 regular meeting, over the 56 houses near West Virginia Avenue the city bought for the Crosstown Parkway bridge extension. Detective Keith Boham said the team will be better prepared as a result. “We don’t get to use houses that often, so it’s a really good opportunity for our team to train in them,” he said. And, when they got the oppor-
See SWAT page A22
Photo Courtesy of the Port St. Lucie Police Department The Port St. Lucie Police Department SWAT team prepares to serve a warrant in September at a home along Southwest Dorchester Street in Port St. Lucie.
City moves closer to selling former Tradition Studios STAFF WRITER
bzeris@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TRADITION — The wait may soon be over. The Port St. Lucie City Council members had differing views on what to do with Tradition Studios, but, by a 3-2 vote Monday, PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID FORT PIERCE, FL PERMIT NO. 248 ECRWSS
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Jupiter resident and developer James Hall won the rights to negotiate a $15 million deal for the former Digital Domain site. “We’re really at the point where we really need to sell this building,” Councilwoman Shannon Martin said. “One of the things that’s important is to reduce our debt, and this is an opportunity.
“So, we need to move forward with this, so that we can take those funds, and we need to put them aside so we can make these annual payments.” Hall’s proposal included the $15 million purchase price, rather than the city’s required minimum of $12.7 million, and a $200,000 deposit to be paid five days after
an agreement was made. He also requested a 60-day inspection period, after which, the deposit would become nonrefundable and a 90-day closing period. Council members said they would prefer to reduce those timeframes to 30 and 60 days
See STUDIO page A28 16793
Brandon Zeris