Riverfront project planned in Stuart may sink

Rendering of riverfront development in Stuart planned by Northpoint Ventures LLC
Rendering of riverfront development in Stuart planned by Northpoint Ventures LLC

Plans to develop about two acres of city-owned riverfront land in Stuart may fail to advance.

Stuart has owned the land along the St. Lucie River, known as the Northpoint property, since 2002, when the city bought it for $500,000 hoping a developer would build there.

Development company Northpoint Ventures LLC has planned to build a restaurant, a hotel and boat slips there.

But Northpoint Ventures may fail to submit a new lease for the city land or take over an existing lease by Wednesday, a deadline the city set May 23.

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Julian Mandody, managing member of Northpoint Ventures, called the deadline unrealistic in a June 6 email to the city attorney.

Another developer that previously leased the Northpoint property, SDG Group, failed to develop a restaurant and boat storage facilities there.

In 2014, the city reassigned the lease to Northpoint Ventures, and the developer proposed building a restaurant, a hotel and boat slips for daytime docking on the Stuart property.

The Stuart News reported that Mandody last week declined to identify the restaurant and hotel brands that Northpoint Ventures was planning for the Northpoint property. [Stuart News] — Mike Seemuth