Age: 58
Originally from Venezuela.
Moved to Vero Beach in
1989.
Family: Maui, wife of 34
years; sons Leo Henriquez Jr.,
33, owner of LH
12
changed and people started taking notice of the changes,”
said Main Street Manager Doris Tillman. “The old City
Hall was restored in 1995, and that made a believer out of
a lot of people.”
Dennis Beach, the city manager since 1995 and overseer of
many of downtown’s improvements, said the public investment
by the city sparked private investment in the downtown.
After the opening of the Old City Hall, the city
replaced broken sidewalks and 80-year-old streets and lights
with an attractive streetscape designed to coincide with opinions
voiced at the planning charette.
“We spent the first two years after the charette in planning,
and in 1997 we did the streetscape between Orange Avenue
and Avenue A for about $300,000 to $400,000,” he said. “First
you get the utilities underground, fix the streets and lights
and the sidewalks. Then the private investors become interested.
It has everything to do with appearance.”
Interior designer and retailer Karen Kane is a true believer
in the old, now new, business district. She opened her
store in 1975 on U.S. 1, just up the street from her current
place on North Second Street. In search of shoppers, she
Construction; Alejandro, 33,
computer and electrical engineer;
Diego, 23, business
adminstration student at
University of Florida.
Business: Boca Ven Land of
Fort Pierce Inc.
PHOTO BY GREGORY ENNS
Leo Henriquez just completed the first residential, office and retail complex
in downtown Fort Pierce. A massive 225,450 square feet, Renaissance
on the River, on Indian River Drive, cost $30 million.
Education: BS in civil engineering
and MS in construction
management from
Stanford University.
Q. When will the
Renaissance be completed
and when will first owners or
tenants move in?
A. “Completion is planned for
for the first week in April.
Right now we are just waiting
for the city to finish the road.”
Q. What are you planning to
do with the Sun Trust building
and when? Completion?
A. “We designed an 85,000-
square-foot office building to
replace the Sun Trust building
on Indian River Drive at
Orange Avenue but we’re
delaying that because of the
economy. So we’ll use it as it
is until it’s time to do something
with it and then we’ll
probably change the design.
It depends on what the market
is then, so right now there
aren’t any plans for what will
go in there. It will have the
same Mediterranean look as
the Renaissance building.”
Q. Why did you choose
downtown Fort Pierce?
A. “After being in business in
this area since 1989, I saw
change happening in the
downtown and I wanted to be
part of it because the future of
this city is great.”
Q. What’s next?
A. “I’m looking for land, I’m
not sure where, probably in
this county, maybe Indian
River, possibly Martin but I
don’t have plans yet for what
I will do. It depends on the
economy. In an election year
it gets very complicated and
there are a lot of complications
this year with the economy.
But I think there will be
something that comes along
in the next year or so that I’ll
want to buy. I think we’ll
build up LH Construction,
maybe do some work for
other people for a while.”
Other Henriquez
Developments:
Altamira
Altamira on North
Hutchinson Island features
two towers and only 48 units.
The North Tower saw completion
in March of 2003 and
the South Tower in January
2004.
Atlantic View Beach Club
Atlantic View, Seaward and
Seabreeze are the three 20-
story towers at Atlantic View
Beach Club, North
Hutchinson Island’s largest
multifamily community with
298 residences. The towers
were constructed and developed
from 1990 to 2000.
UP CLOSE WITH LEO HENRIQUEZ
>>
PHOTO BY ROB DOWNEY