PORT ST. LUCIE, FL-Call it Florida’s next major logistics hub, planned for development over the next 30 to 35 years. As pre-development efforts swing into motion on the 4,000-acre Treasure Coast Intermodal Campus site in southwest St. Lucie County, Jones Lang LaSalle wins bragging rights as the exclusive project advisor.
“TCIC will create an entirely new industrial model for Florida, ultimately providing a connection to direct on-dock rail service at Florida’s key seaports, along with easy access to all major highways,” says John Carver, who heads Jones Lang LaSalle’s Ports Airports and Global Infrastructure practice. “TCIC is being designed to help Florida compete more effectively for market share as a leading port destination in the Atlantic region.”
Sometimes referred to as an inland port, this type of development illustrates a growing trend toward integrating US container seaports with a dedicated distribution cluster. In this type of development, dual rail and roadway access can support activities relating to transport, logistics and the distribution of goods within a region. As Carver sees it, the project will have the scale and vision to create a full service logistics environment and to accommodate a variety of manufacturing uses for which the climate and population of Florida is ideally suited.
The TCIC inland port is in an area of St. Lucie County where strong urban infrastructure and all the support services necessary for a large-scale industrial complex already exist. Located on Rangeline Road at the Martin County line--and bounded by agricultural land and Glades Cutoff Road to the west--Florida East Coast Railroad will serve TCIC from its northern border.
“This large scale project is being engineered specifically in preparation for the Panama Canal expansion, which also coincides with the emergence of South America as one of the largest exporters in the world,” says Steve Medwin, managing director of JLL in Miami. “The Third Set of Locks project in Panama, set for completion in 2014, will cause a substantial increase in seaborne cargo passing through Florida waters."
Medwin says the Third Set of Locks will give the Port of Miami, Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach the opportunity to capture increased cargo that can then be transported directly to the new TCIC inland site for later distribution throughout Florida and into the southeast US. Of course, it’s a long-term play. But the project should create a major economic impact, including thousands of direct and indirect jobs, over the next three decades.
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