ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
“It’s time to sell the building. It’s time to cut our losses short.” Ron Bowen PSL City Council
YourVoiceWeekly.com YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
City to sell Digital Domain building for $14 million
Learning the ropes and reins
Nicole Rodriguez
Be a hero
Staff writer
nrodriguez@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TRADITION — The city has agreed to sell the vacant Digital Domain studio for $14 million, but details about the buyer and his plans for the building are still hazy. The Port St. Lucie City Council voted 4-1 to accept the offer from Horizon Central Global LLC at its July 8 meeting. City staff expects to close the deal on or before Nov. 28. The only dissenting vote belonged to Councilwoman Michelle Berger, who said a 30-minute meeting with the purchaser, Richard Friedberg, left her with even more questions. “I’d prefer more than a half hour meeting with an individual who gave me not enough details,” Berger said. Horizon Central Global is a company registered in Delaware, interim city manager Jeff Bremer said. It created a Vero Beachbased corporation this year solely to purchase Tradition Studios. The parent company’s name is unknown, but Bremer said it is involved in investment, construction and property purchase. Horizon Central Global’s mother company, owned by Richard Friedberg, is currently conducting construction on upscale student housing at Florida Atlantic University and has done similar
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The Van Duzer Foundation shows there are heroes in all of us
Golf on the Mend
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Morgan Rinker, 12, of Tradition gives some last minute instructions to her horse before participating in riding lessons during a horse camp session at Long Riders Stables in Fort Pierce.
PGA Country Club course getting a re-model
McCarty Ranch conflict resolution could be win for SLW Nicole Rodriguez Staff writer
nrodriguez@YourVoiceWeekly.com
ST. LUCIE WEST — Should the city soon wrangle control of an expansive tract of land it owns just west of PGA Village, the benefits to St. Lucie West Services District customers would be bountiful, officials said. The 3,107-acre tract of land, known as McCarty Ranch located off Glades Cutoff and Range Line roads, is currently controlled and zoned by St. Lucie County because it is located in an unincorporated area within the county’s
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boundaries. The city of Port St. Lucie bought the land in November for $10 million to use for water treatment and recreational use. If the land is annexed into the city, the St. Lucie West Services District could acquire acres at a low price to use as storm water retention ponds, which would help ease flooding in the area, district manager Dennis Pickle said. For every acre purchased, the district would be required to mitigate, or set aside, 1.5 acres as preserved areas, the ranch’s current designation per state
3 On the chain gang Inmates to work on invasive plants in SLW
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Meet the Mets St. Lucie infielder Jayce Boyd
8 Good Grill
Palm City Grill II in SLW is a gem on the boulevard
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