Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is the most-populous municipality in the county and the sixth-most populous city in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, with a population of 204,851 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city in the Port St. Lucie metropolitan statistical area, which includes St. Lucie and

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

Counties, and had an estimated population of 502,521. Port St. Lucie is also a principal city in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie combined statistical area, which had an estimated population of 6,841,100 .

History

The name "St. Lucie" is originally derived from the name of a settlement near Jupiter Inlet, which was founded on St. Lucia's Day in 1566. Due to numerous errors, the name later came to be associated with the present-day town of St. Lucie Village, Florida, north of present-day Port St. Lucie. After La Florida and St. Augustine, it is the oldest still-in-use European place name in the United States.Eriksen, John M., ''Brevard County...A Short History to 1955''
/ref> In the early 1890s, an early pioneer settlement named Spruce Bluff was located along the St. Lucie River, which consisted of a community of several families with a school, post office, pineapple plantation, and

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. Currently, the land the settlement was located on is part of the Spruce Bluff Preserve. Along with an old cemetery near the old settlement, the preserve also contains a hiking area, canoe access, observation areas, and a prehistoric Ais

Indian mound Many pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed "Mound Builders", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks that in ...

located on the southern end of the preserve. In the 1950s, the land that eventually became Port St. Lucie was a largely uninhabited tract of land south of White City, composed of a fishing camp (Burt Pruitt's Fishin' Farm) along the St. Lucie River, a few farms and businesses near U.S. 1. In 1958, with a budget of $50 million, the General Development Corporation (GDC) purchased the River Park development and along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. In 1959, the GDC opened its first bridge over the St. Lucie River, allowing for direct automobile access to Port St. Lucie. By February 25, 1961, 250 homes were in the new city. GDC requested the state legislature to incorporate , along with the River Park settlement, into the City of Port St. Lucie. River Park did not incorporate into the city at the request of its residents. Port St. Lucie became a city on April 27, 1961, with the passage of House Bill No. 953, proposed by State Representative Rupert Smith and approved by Florida Governor C. Farris Bryant. In the early 1990s, Core Communities (CC), acquired and began planning what would become St. Lucie West. Originally, St. Lucie West was to have contained about 14,000 homes over a 20-year period on , but after realizing the community's strategic position, they began developing it into more than just a residential area. CC began building business sectors and places of entertainment and leisure. That resulted in 7,000 jobs being brought to the small town, helping it into its boom during most of the early 2000s. In 2006, CC started development of its newest community,

Tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

, which sits west of the

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

interchange with Gatlin Blvd., and was a large cattle ranch before CC began to develop it. Around of commercial area were built, with room for over 18,000 residences. According to CC's website, Tradition is the largest fully entitled residential development area from the tip of Interstate 95 to the Canada–U.S. border. It is modeled after a 1950s-era town. According to its website, Tradition Square, the town center of the community, holds festivities year-round. It was also chosen as the site of HGTV's ''Green Home'' in 2009. In 2007, the housing market began to collapse and unemployment started to rise. As of February 2009, unemployment was about 10.5%, and in 2008, nearly 11,000 homes went into

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

. This prompted the county government to consider declaring itself a disaster area. Doing so would have given county administrators access to $17 million in county emergency reserve funds. That money, combined with a transportation fund and other accounts, would give St. Lucie $20 – $30 million to spend on building projects - research parks, highways, and other infrastructure improvements. In 2008, Tradition and Core Communities welcomed the Florida Center of Innovation (later renamed Tradition Center for Innovation), a 150-acre privately owned research park dedicated to drug discovery, immunology and medical devices, and healthcare. TCI initially composed of Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Oregon Health and Science University's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI), Martin Health System Hospital (Tradition Medical Center), and Mann Research Center. In 2015, VGTI shut down their TCI facility, and Mann Research Center soon followed. As of 2019, only Torrey Pines and the Tradition Medical Center remain in TCI. In 2017, TAMCO, a subsidiary of City Electric Supply, a family-owned electrical wholesale business, created plans with the Port St. Lucie city council to construct a $38 million, 400,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center located in the Tradition Commerce Park. Construction of the TAMCO facility began in 2018 and was completed in late 2019.

Geography

The approximate coordinates for the City of Port St. Lucie is located at . According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which (1.50%) are covered by water.

Neighborhoods

In late 2019, Port St. Lucie began naming different neighborhoods throughout the city. As of 2020, 33 neighborhoods are named in Port St. Lucie:

Climate

Port St. Lucie is located in the broad transition zone between a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

( ''Cfa''), which dominates

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

, and within the northern extent of the

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of or higher in the coolest month, featuring hot te ...

typical of

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. Summers are usually hot, with high temperatures averaging in the low 90°Fs. Winters are usually mild to warm, with average high temperatures in the 70s. The average yearly precipitation is around 53.5 in. In 2004 and 2005, Port St. Lucie was hit directly by three hurricanes:

Frances Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...

(category 2), Jeanne (category 3), and Wilma (category 3).

Demographics

2010 and 2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, 204,851 people, 68,241 households, and 51,199 families were residing in the city. As of the 2010 United States census, 164,603 people, 56,408 households, and 41,785 families resided in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 88,769 people, 33,909 households, and 25,736 families were living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 36,785 housing units at an average density of . In 2000, the population was 87.88%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 7.09%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.23% Native American, 1.24% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.77% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races. 7.52% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. In 2000, 31.6% of households had children under 18 living with them, 61.8% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were not families. Of all households, 18.2% were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 2.94. In 2000, the city's age distribution was 24.3% under 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 91.4 males. As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $40,509, and for a family was $44,162. Males had a median income of $31,730 versus $23,702 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $18,059. 7.9% of the population and 5.7% of families were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 11.1% of those under 18 and 5.8% of those 65 or over.

Languages

As of 2000, 88.05% of residents spoke English as their

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

, while 6.59% spoke Spanish, 1.34% spoke Italian, 1.00% spoke French, 0.60% spoke German, and 0.50% spoke

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; , ; , ), or simply Creole (), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it ...

as their mother tongue. In total, 11.94% of the total population spoke languages other than English.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Port St. Lucie is served by the St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization (TPO). The TPO is a metropolitan planning organization, a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization responsible for transportation planning, programming, and financing of state and federal transportation funds for the City of Port St. Lucie. The TPO is governed by a TPO board, which is composed of elected officials, representatives from the St. Lucie County School Board, and representatives from Community Transit, a division of the Council on Aging of St. Lucie, Inc.

Air

Vero Beach Regional Airport (located about 25 miles north of Port St. Lucie) offers regularly scheduled passenger service on Breeze Airways. Palm Beach International Airport is located about 40 miles to the south.

Bus

The original bus system started out as a demand-response service bus in the 1990s; it only served St. Lucie County. Soon, it expanded to a fixed-route system, serving predetermined locations along a route. On June 3, 2002, the

Florida Department of Transportation The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

approved funding, expanding the bus service to Martin County, and became the Treasure Coast Connector. In 2020, the bus service changed its name to Area Regional Transit; buses run on eight routes, five of which serve Port St. Lucie.

Expressways

Florida's Turnpike (State Road 91) is the only toll road in St. Lucie County, which is the northernmost place where the Turnpike and

run close to each other. The Turnpike has two exits within Port St. Lucie's city limits: Exit 142 ( Port St. Lucie Boulevard (SR 716)) and exit 138 (Becker Road). For all of its route through Port St. Lucie, the turnpike is east of I-95. The Turnpike is four lanes wide , and provides access to Orlando to the north, and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

to the southeast. The Port St. Lucie/Ft. Pierce Service Plaza is also located in Port St. Lucie. I-95

Interstate 95 (State Road 9) is in the western portion of the city. It is six lanes wide, and provides access to

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

to the north, and

to the south. Exits within the city's limits are exit 126 ( CR 712/Midway Road), exit 121 (St. Lucie West Blvd.), exit 120 (Crosstown Parkway), exit 118 (Gatlin Blvd./Tradition Pkwy.), and exit 114 (Becker Rd.).

Major roadways

Port St. Lucie is responsible for maintaining around of roadway within its city limits. US 1

U.S. 1 (State Road 5) – Running the entire length of the state, its route through the city extends from the Martin/St. Lucie County line to the south to Midway Road at the northern limits of the city. This stretch of US 1 contains mostly strip malls and shopping centers. On the southeast corner of US 1's intersection with Walton Road/Veterans Memorial Blvd., is the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Event Center, which was once envisioned as the center of the city's "downtown". As of today, the area around the Event Center remains mostly undeveloped. Crosstown Parkway – Completed in October 2019, Crosstown Parkway is an east/west roadway connecting Interstate 95 (State Road 9) with U.S. 1 (State Road 5). Along with being a much-needed, high-capacity, third crossing of the North Fork of the St. Lucie River ( Port St. Lucie Blvd. to the south, and Prima Vista Blvd. to the north being the other two), it is also the location of Florida's first superstreet intersection—also known as a "restricted-crossing U-turn intersection"—at Crosstown Parkway and Floresta Drive. Florida 716

SR 716 – The state-road portion of Port St. Lucie Boulevard (commonly shortened to PSL Blvd.) connects US 1 with Florida's Turnpike.

Rail

The

Florida East Coast Railway The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a p ...

(FEC) mainline passes through the extreme eastern parts of the city. FEC's K Branch passes through the northwestern part of the city. Both rail lines only pass through the city; no services are provided by the FEC inside Port St. Lucie's city limits.

Sports

Port St. Lucie is the

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

home to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

and two minor league teams: St. Lucie Mets, a Low-A team affiliated with the Low-A Southeast league, and the Florida Complex League Mets, a rookie-level team affiliated with the

Florida Complex League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the low ...

. All three play at Clover Park. The PGA Village golf complex includes 54 holes of golf, as well as a learning center and a historical center. The city also hosted the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro, the city's first PGA Tour event, in 2007. The city has two soccer clubs, Mako Soccer Club and Port St. Lucie Soccer Club, that field both competitive and recreational teams at several age levels. The Treasure Coast Tritons soccer team also play in the city at the South County Stadium, starting in the 2019 season. Port St. Lucie is the home of the 2009 and 2011 national champions in Pop Warner football. In 2009, the Jr. Midget Pirates went 16–0 en route to winning the Pop Warner National Championship at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. In 2001, the Jr. Peewee Pirates went 17–0 in winning the national championship.

Education

Port St. Lucie, as well as all of St Lucie County, is served by St. Lucie County Public Schools.

Elementary schools

* Bayshore Elementary * Floresta Elementary * Mariposa Elementary * Morningside Elementary * Rivers Edge Elementary * Village Green Environmental Studies School * Windmill Point Elementary

Kindergarten–grade 8 schools

* Allapattah Flats * Manatee * Northport * Oak Hammock * Palm Pointe Research School at Tradition * St. Lucie West *West Gate

Kindergarten–grade 12 schools

* Christ Lutheran School * Grace Christian Academy

High schools

* Port St. Lucie High School * St. Lucie West Centennial High School * Treasure Coast High School

Colleges and universities

* Indian River State College * Keiser University * Fortis Institute

Charter schools

* Renaissance Charter School at Tradition * Renaissance Charter School of St. Lucie *Somerset Academy Bethany * Somerset Academy St. Lucie * Somerset College Preparatory Academy * Tradition Preparatory High School

Government

City council * Shannon Martin – mayor of Port St. Lucie *Jolien Caraballo – vice mayor and councilwoman, District 4 * Stephanie Morgan – councilwoman, District 1 * David Pickett – councilman, District 2 *Anthony Bonna – councilman, District 3 City manager * Jesus Merejo

Libraries

Six regular branch libraries are in St. Lucie County and the Pruitt Campus Library, with four branches in the city of Port St. Lucie. *Morningside Library - 19,000 sq ft *Port St. Lucie Library - 4,400 sq ft *Paula A. Lewis Library - 21,000 sq ft *Pruitt Campus (a joint facility with Indian River State College) - 25,000 sq ft

Parks and tourist attractions

* Veterans Memorial Park * Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens

Notable people

Rick Ankiel Richard Alexander Ankiel (; born July 19, 1979) is an American former professional baseball center fielder and pitcher. He spent most of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals, but also played for the Kansas City Roya ...

, professional baseball player * Mario Bencastro, Salvadorian novelist * Michael Brantley, professional baseball player * Donald De La Haye, professional football player and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

personality *

Megan Fox Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film ''Holiday in the Sun (film), Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such a ...

, actress *

Ace Hood Antoine Franklin McColister (born May 11, 1988), known professionally Ace Hood, is an American rapper. Born in Port St. Lucie and raised in Deerfield Beach, Florida, he was discovered by DJ Khaled and became the first act to sign with his rec ...

, hip hop artist * Breanna Myles, beauty pageant titleholder * Alycia Parks, professional tennis player * Gillian Robertson, UFC fighter * Larry Sanders (basketball), professional basketball player * Fabrizio Scaccia, professional football player * Din Thomas, UFC fighter *

Albert Wilson (American football) Albert Wilson II (born July 12, 1992) is an American former professional American football, football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. He played college football for the ...

, professional football player * Mickey Wright,

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

Hall of Fame

In popular culture

A fictional version of Port St. Lucie is the setting for the Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

and

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

'' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' Part 6: '' Stone Ocean'' in which the protagonist is imprisoned in the fictional Green Dolphin Street Prison located just outside of the city. Part of the ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

'' film '' Moonraker'' was shot in Port St. Lucie, on the St. Lucie River.

References

External links

City of Port St. Lucie
{{authority control Cities in St. Lucie County, Florida Port St. Lucie metropolitan area Populated places on the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida Populated places established in 1958 1958 establishments in Florida Cities in Florida