City Manager's Annual Report 2017 | A Year In Review | Page 37

E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T
2.
CITY ELECTRIC
SUPPLY

While economic development was on an upswing throughout
the year, with 254 new businesses opening doors in PSL in fiscal
year 2017, the Fall of 2017 brought the City’s largest commercial
economic development partnership since the Great Recession.
The State of Florida, St. Lucie County, the St. Lucie County Economic Development
Council and the City of Port St. Lucie worked together to keep 222 living-wage jobs
from leaving the City – and add 50 new jobs on top of those.
City Electric Supply opened its doors in Port St. Lucie about 20 years ago, and,
by 2017, occupied 200,000 square-feet of space across five buildings in St. Lucie
West. When the company decided to consolidate, and build a 400,000 square-
foot manufacturing operation, it considered competitive sites in Dallas, Texas
and Charlotte, North Carolina. But City Electric Supply leaders announced it will
remain in Port St. Lucie. It will invest $28 million in the construction of the new
manufacturing, distribution and administrative space in the Tradition Commerce
Center, as well as invest another $10 million in machinery and equipment.
The incentives for City Electric Supply, approved by the City Council, rely on the
standard tool of property tax abatement, which is authorized by voters. This means
the company would be exempt from City and County property taxes for five years,
followed by five years on a sliding scale. (It still would have to pay taxes to other
agencies, such as the school district.) Tax abatement must be recertified every
year, as authorized by the voters. The approvals also allow the mitigation of impact
fees on the new building, which will be an important anchor for the Tradition
Commerce Center.
The approved incentives do not make the City financially responsible in any way
for City Electric Supply’s new building (even if they decide in the future to vacate
the City) and it retains a well-established business with more than 440 branches,
and 272 jobs that pay higher than the area’s average salary, in the City.
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