Developers hoping to bring a waterfront village to the former Vero Beach power plant need a little more time to develop a master agreement and to negotiate lease terms for the Three Corners project, City Manager Monte Falls told the City Council.
The council unanimously agreed June 23 to give the development team another 30 days, taking the city until at least near the end of summer before a lease agreement is finalized for the city-owned property at 17th Street and Indian River Boulevard.
In April 2025, the city selected Clearpath Services’ group’s $249 million bid to lease the property and develop what it called Big Blue at Three Corners with a waterfront village and marina; two hotels; and a central park.
Clearpath in September 2025 joined with former competitor The Blue at Vero Beach LLC to create a design team for the project. The team involves HOK architects of St. Louis and commercial real estate investment firm Madison Marquette of Washington, D.C.
The city and Clearpath began a 120-day negotiation period on March 11, and have made “meaningful progress,” Falls told the City Council in a memorandum. Last week, the development team — including engineers, consultants and architects — were on site, and have presented city officials with a draft master developer’s agreement, Falls said.
“We are in the process of reviewing that and getting comments back to them,” he said.
The negotiation period was set to end July 11. With the extension, the developers now have until Aug. 11.
“Hopefully, we’ll have some better idea of where we’re going to go before Aug. 11,” Falls said.
The delay was unsurprising, council member Linda Moore said, adding she didn’t have “any kind of hope” that 30 days would be sufficient to resolve the agreement.
“Do you guys have hope 30 days is going to do the trick?” she asked.
Falls acknowledged there have been delays that have been out of the city’s control. But, he said, it’s important to do the project right.
“Let’s not rush through it and accept something that we’re not happy with,” Falls said.
The City Council is authorized to approve extensions of only up to 30 days. Additional extensions could be requested.
City officials have said it could be mid-2027 before shovels hit the ground.
In November 2015, the city power plant was shut down, weeks after the City Council approved a revised contract with its main power supplier, Orlando Utilities Commission. In 2018, the city sold its electrical system to Florida Power & Light Co. for $185 million. Soon after, the city and residents began talking about what to do with the site.
A master conceptual plan was approved by the City Council in February 2022. The plan included finding a developer to build a hotel, restaurants, stores and recreation areas along a waterfront promenade.
Colleen Wixon is the Indian River County government watchdog reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida city to extended negotiations for waterfront village project
Reporting by Colleen Wixon, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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By Colleen Wixon, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
