BUSINESS
14
ST. LUCIE COUNTY
Expect to see mega-yachts like this one undergoing maintenance, repair and overhaul at the Port of Fort Pierce as Derecktor Shipyard of Dania begins to
operate there. Hundreds of jobs will be created both directly and indirectly.
PROSPERITY AHEAD
Good fortune is on the horizon for the city and
county with expansion at the airport and port
BY SUSAN BURGESS
Seaplanes. Mega-yachts. Boeing and Embraer aircraft.
Expect them in Fort Pierce soon. The Sunrise City has
an economic boom on its hands.
“The city is on the edge of better times,” says Peter
Tesch, president of the St. Lucie County Economic Development
Council. The EDC plays an important role in marketing
the county and its cities to attract new companies and providing
studies that serve as guidelines for economic improvement
efforts.
Unemployment dropped steadily from 7.2 percent in January
2018 to 4.9 percent in the city in November, the last date
available as of late December from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While part of the reason is the overall improvement in the
state’s economy, a big factor is the welcoming local business
climate and the network of major highways running through
the county. The port, the airport and the more than 350 manufacturers
that call the county home all play significant roles.
The unemployment rate is likely to go even lower when
the port and airport begin this year to move into the maintenance,
repair and overhaul, or MRO, business, creating
hundreds of well-paying jobs over the next four years.
Mega-yacht maintenance, repair and overhaul at the port
could generate as many as 900 direct and indirect jobs with
an economic impact of $105 million in four years, according
to Port and Airport Director Stan Payne.
Prompted by a commitment to create more jobs in the northern
part of the county, St. Lucie County backed away from
decades of attempts to attract long-term commuter airlines to
the Treasure Coast International Airport, just outside of Fort
Pierce, and cargo ships to the Port of Fort Pierce, he says.
Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson likes the results. “There’s a
bustle going on,” she says. “Everything has just kind of jelled.”
Job opportunities for Fort Pierce and surrounding area
residents are expected to swell now that county commissioners
have decided to build a $7.4 million hangar at the airport
and find a company that will maintain, repair and overhaul
planes there. The federal and state governments are paying
for 70 percent of hangar costs; the county pays for the rest.
An airport business plan drawn up by consultants in
2015 showed that the airport would benefit greatly from the
county taking on the job of building the hangar. It also recommended
changing the airport name from St. Lucie County >>