Yacht Club, Marina May Be Built in Stuart, Fla.

 

Atlantic Point Yacht Club and Marina would include: 105 wet slips; a 109,708-sq.-ft. barn for storing 455 boats; a 6,510-sq.-ft., one-story restaurant; a 2,000-sq.-ft., two-story ship store; a 2,000-sq.-ft., two-story fitness center; pool and an 83-foot lighthouse art piece. The Stuart Community Redevelopment Board approved the project, and now the City Commission will review the plan later this month.

A yacht club and marina with a boat barn, restaurant and ship store could be built in Stuart, Fla. on the St. Lucie River across from downtown, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

Developer Jeff Hardin of Straticon and Middle Island Management and Development, wants to redevelop the 7.9-acre property once used as an Evinrude Motors testing site. He’s aiming to complete the full project by August 2023, he told the city Community Redevelopment Board May 3, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

Atlantic Point Yacht Club and Marina would include: 105 wet slips; a 109,708-sq.-ft. barn for storing 455 boats; a 6,510-sq.-ft., one-story restaurant; a 2,000-sq.-ft., two-story ship store; a 2,000-sq.-ft., two-story fitness center; pool and an 83-foot lighthouse art piece.

The marina would be open to the public, but live-a-board boats would be prohibited, Hardin told the board, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported. Boats from Tiki Taxi & Cruises that go from the downtown Stuart dock to the Tidehouse Restaurant also would dock at the marina, he said.
“Marine industries in the city of Stuart and Martin County (have) been one of our most important industries that I can remember,” Donald Cuozzo, of Cuozzo Planning Solutions, a consultant to Hardin, said at the meeting.

The restaurant would be a “grab-and-go” style without table service, he noted, yet board members were more invested in the height of the lighthouse, which would only function as an art piece, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

The structure — about the height of an eight-story building — would be permitted to exceed Stuart’s four-story height limit because the rule only applies to residential structures, city staff said May 3.

Although the board approved the entire project, members Tom Campenni and Katherine Makemson didn’t support the lighthouse component, fearing it would set a precedent, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

Nikolaus Schroth was among the five board members supporting the project as a whole.
“The property itself kind of struggled because it faces a big bridge and backs up to the railroad tracks. Before (the developer) purchased it, it wasn’t really clear what this site should be,” Schroth said.

The City Commission is scheduled to consider the project May 23.