- Who: The Port St. Lucie City Council, acting on three separate site plans in the Southern Grove jobs corridor.
- What: Approval of a 163,000-square-foot Costco warehouse store, the first phase of the Tradition Entertainment District, and a 42-bed rehabilitation hospital.
- Where: Western Port St. Lucie, near Southwest Village Parkway and Southwest Marshall Parkway.
The Port St. Lucie City Council approved site plans Monday for three major projects in Southern Grove, including the long-anticipated Costco retail store.
The approval clears a significant hurdle, but shovels are not hitting the ground yet. City staff says Costco still has to close on the land, complete construction design planning, and obtain permits before building can start.
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What Was Approved for Costco
The store is planned at 163,000 square feet on roughly 22.8 acres east of Southwest Village Parkway and south of Southwest Marshall Parkway. The figure has moved during the review process, with earlier filings describing a store of up to 170,000 square feet.
A zoning amendment the council approved in July established the framework. It added member-based wholesale warehouse stores of at least 100,000 square feet as a permitted use within the Legacy Park North master-planned development, and allowed the features typical of a Costco location, including a fuel station, tire center, liquor sales and outdoor seasonal merchandise displays. That amendment also set the fuel station at 32 simultaneous fueling positions and raised the maximum outdoor lighting height in portions of the development from 35 feet to 40 feet.
The land deal closed earlier in the year. The Port St. Lucie Governmental Finance Corporation agreed on March 9 to sell the property to Costco Wholesale Corporation for $6 million.
The store will sit across from Costco’s 1.87-million-square-foot cold and dry storage distribution depot, which serves as a hub for the company’s Florida operations.
The Other Two Projects
The council also approved a 5.5-acre site plan covering the first phase of the Tradition Entertainment District, which is planned to bring restaurants and retail to the area.
The third approval covers an acute care rehabilitation hospital of more than 55,000 square feet with 42 beds, offering both inpatient and outpatient services.
Why It Matters
For residents, the nearest Costco is currently about 20 miles south in Stuart, where the Treasure Coast’s first location opened in 2025 on South Kanner Highway. A Port St. Lucie store would cut that drive substantially for households in Tradition, St. Lucie West and the city’s western neighborhoods.
The three approvals together mark a shift in what Southern Grove is becoming. The corridor was built out first as a jobs and logistics district, drawing Amazon, Tamco and Cheney Brothers. Retail, dining and healthcare are now following the rooftops.
Wes McCurry, president and CEO of the St. Lucie County Economic Development Council, has described the area as historically underserved by restaurants, retail and entertainment, and characterized this round of approvals as the commercial side catching up to residential growth that is already there.
Southern Grove has also drawn interest beyond these three projects, including a proposed 60-acre development at Becker Road and Village Parkway with multi-family housing, a hotel and additional commercial space.
What Happens Next
No construction start or opening date has been announced for the Costco store. Earlier filings pointed toward a possible 2027 opening, though that timeline has not been confirmed by the city or the company since the site plan approval.
Site work in the area also depends on completing a key roadway serving the development.
For continuing coverage of development across the Treasure Coast, visit our Port St. Lucie news section.
