ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FL — Buc-ee’s has cleared the county’s site plan review. Construction on its planned travel center near Interstate 95 and Indrio Road can begin once the company posts a bond for its road and drainage work, a county official says.
Ben Balcer, director of Planning & Development Services for St. Lucie County, told WQCS the project is moving forward, but the company has not given the county a construction start or opening date.
Buc-ee’s first won approval for a preliminary planned development some time ago, Balcer said. Since then, the company has been working through its final site plan.
“It was a minor site plan and it was administratively approved last month,” Balcer said.
Buc-ee’s is now working with county engineers on what Balcer called its horizontal infrastructure, such as stormwater systems and roadway improvements. County public works engineers have signed off, he said.
“I’ve received word from our public works engineering team that they’re ready to go as well,” Balcer said.
Under county rules, developers must bond those improvements before building them. Once Buc-ee’s does that, the county will issue a site development permit.
“We’re waiting on Buc-ee’s basically to bond those improvements because before you build them, you have to bond it,” Balcer said. “So once they bond the improvements, we will be issuing the site development permit and that is the last step really to start to see construction activities on site.”
Balcer would not predict when work will start. He said the schedule depends on Buc-ee’s own site developers and contractors.
“That’s really a business decision with Buc-ee’s,” he said. “I couldn’t give you a date.”
He said the company, as a for-profit business, will choose the timing that works for it.
“They have their own site developers and contractors that they work with, and it has to fall in line with their schedule,” Balcer said.
The site is on the southeast corner of Indrio Road and I-95. Balcer described it as vacant former citrus land.
He said Buc-ee’s has put significant resources into the project.
“They’ve invested a lot of time and energy and financial capital to develop this site,” Balcer said. “So I imagine when it aligns with their needs, they will be pulling the trigger.”