AT A GLANCE
IN THE NEWS
NATALIE’S EXPANDS, ADDS 50 JOBS
Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company has expanded with the
purchase of a 55,000-square-foot building on 11 acres. The building,
at 1650 DiGiorgio Road in Fort Pierce, is being renovated to serve as a
new distribution and manufacturing facility to Natalie’s ever-growing
line of premium, authentic juices.
Due to its close proximity to major thruways, such as I-95 and
Florida’s Turnpike, the transportation of materials, ingredients and
juices will be expedited to and from the new warehouse. Operations
also continue at Natalie’s downtown Fort Pierce site. Some 50 additional
IMG Citrus
More employees are being added to
IMG Citrus, a Vero Beach grower, packer
and shipper, following its acquisition of
a grapefruit grove in St. Lucie County.
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employees are being hired for the expansion.
DISNEY RESORT LAND MAY BE USED FOR HOMES
Disney’s Vero Beach Resort is in negotiation with a developer to
sell off property west of State Road A1A for construction of homes
instead of vacation timeshares.
GHO Homes LLC, based in Port St. Lucie, wants to build 96 residential
units — 18 single-family homes and 39 duplexes.
GHO wants to buy about 26 acres from the resort, with construction
still about a year away. The land GHO would purchase is on the
west side of A1A while Disney Resort would continue to own and
operate the resort buildings and facilities east of A1A and the parking
area on the west side.
IMG ADDS 4,000 ACRES TO CITRUS PORTFOLIO
IMG Citrus, a family-owned
citrus grower, packer, and shipper
in Vero Beach, has acquired
one of the largest grapefruit
groves in St. Lucie County.
The 4,000-acre grove, west of
Fort Pierce on Orange Avenue
Extension, was purchased
from Packers of Indian River for
$31.25 million.
The grove has been renamed
Happy Food Grove, after the
company’s main consumer
brand, Happy Food, which
can be found in supermarkets
across the United States,
Canada, Europe and Asia.
An additional 397 undeveloped tree acres will be home to the
company’s new grove redevelopment project, with 273 acres of citrus
trees to be set within high-density planting blocks predicted to produce
mature fruit within three years and 124 acres of trees set within
existing traditional blocks.
The newly acquired Happy Food Grove also contains a 300-acre
reservoir and is home to native wildlife, including deer, wild turkey,
alligators, roseate spoonbills and blue herons.
In addition to the land purchase, the acquisition also included
transitioning 17 existing grove employees to IMG Citrus.
IMG Citrus was founded by Michel and Veronique Sallin, natives of
France, in 1979.
CAMPING WORLD COMING TO TREASURE COAST
Camping World, the largest retail camping store, in March filed an
application with Fort Pierce city planners to build an 80,000-squarefoot
store at 2191 S. Jenkins Road.
The store would have 48,800 square feet for outdoor equipment,
18,000 square feet for camping gear and 15,000 square feet for an RV
service center.
Camping World has 85 stores nationwide, including 16 in Florida. v
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