July 2018

138 139 tial taxes, alone.” That was particularly true in the case of Palm Bay, which experienced one of the state’s highest foreclosure rates. Anderson then recounted that he and several other development specialists were brought in a few years back by a new city administration to help repair the damage. “We went to work right away, changing ordinances, and getting some of our properties re-zoned and adjusted to make it easier to increase our commercial base,” he add- ed.With those alterations in place, the City began to work with developers eager to commit to new projects, and today, there is an abundance of con- struction activity taking place in several key areas of town. We spoke to Anderson again, recently, and he offered us an update on the current state of development in the City of Palm Bay. “Last time we talked, we said that we were trying to set a three-year goal of $320 million in new growth– 20 percent commercial and the rest, residential,” he begins. “As of March, we surpassed that goal, already; we’re at $220 million of new develop- ment, exceeding our commercial growth goal by PALM BAY, FLORIDA nearly $40 million.” “In the southern part of the city, where a new I-95 interchange is currently under construction – the main developer there has submitted all its conceptual plans, and has gotten all its land use approvals,”Anderson continues. “They’re going to move forward, so we’ll probably finish that inter- change within the next sixteen months, along with a connecting road that the city is building. The area around that new interchange is going to take off; they’ve been marketing their product pretty heavily and are moving forward with a plan to do mixed-use, multi-family residential, and commercial. In addition to that, another develop- er, who is adjacent to the interchange, is closing with D.R. Horton Homes for 2,400 homes. Com- bined, the two projects will have nearly a million feet of commercial space. So, where we were just talking conceptually, last year, now there are shovels in the ground and earth is moving.” Another construction project is planned for the west side of the city, near the St. John’s Heri- tage Parkway, a new road being built by the City, Brevard County, and the Florida Department of