Inland port planned for South Florida
A group of private investors plan to build an inland port in St. Lucie County in South Florida to serve the state’s ports and the state’s growing population.
John Carver, the who heads the ports, airports and global infrastructure practice at the commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLS), said the project, called the Treasure Coast Intermodal Campus, is designed to capitalize on the changes in world trade expected with the opening of the new set of locks at the Panama Canal and a need for an inland port to serve the Florida market.
JLS has been hired as exclusive project advisor to the project's developers, Pine Loch Management and Kennedy Holdings, which he described as citrus growers looking for the “highest and best use” or their properties.
The terminal “is being designed to help Florida compete more effectively for market share as a leading port destination in the Atlantic region.'
Carver said the terminal would be linked to Florida ports and the rest of the country via the Florida East Coast Railroad.
The project’s Web site said as much as 40 million square feet of distribution space could be developed on 4,528 acres of land at the project. Development would take 30 to 35 years.