Spring training has started! the Mets are training about two miles from where I'm sitting. Once Spring training is over, the St. Lucie Mets play minor league ball all summer. Interesting, the stadium was built by a developer, Thomas White from St. Louis. He bought 6 square miles of ranch land and developed a "city within a city", St. Lucie West, which is a part of the City of Port St. Lucie, but is also a Special Taxing District with their own representatives. He wanted a real marketing advantage, so he built the stadium and donated it to the county recreation department. It was set up so he'd get his investment back over 25 years, but only from stadium revenues. It has proven to be a real asset to the area, so the county has spent some money on renovations and improvements to secure the Mets contract -- but only from tourist bed tax dollars, which locals seldom pay. In other words, it hasn't cost the local taxpayers a cent from general revenues.
He also paid 100% for an Interstate exit on I-95, the first one ever to be built entirely with private funding. Finally, he built the requisite golf course, but it has been purchased by the PGA, which has built 4 more courses and their international golf school (along with an upscale housing development, PGA Village, where retired pros from all over the country have built homes, and teach in the school).
All of this brings revenue to the area and benefits the local businesses. For example, Jim Awtrey, the President of the PGA, has a home here, and we built his outdoor kitchen. We built 3 outdoor kitchens for one retired golf pro, who built a house for himself, then married and built one for he and his partner, then divorced and built yet another.
Our economy has never been better.
Over 6,000 homes were built in the city last year, and it's looking like a substantial increase this year.
Or course, it's getting too crowded, so my wife and I are moving out...
