Real Estate Agencies

HOBE SOUND — If just one of the two major development projects proposed in the vicinity of Bridge Road wins approval, it should be the Harmony project, Harmony officials said Thursday.

“I think if you went over there and they said ‘OK, we’re only going to have one project that they would pick our site,” said Tom Kenny, a vice president with Harmony Ranch Development Corp. “The reason I say that is they picked our site when they did the 50-year sustainable regional plan. They picked our site in 1994 when they did the South Martin County charette.”

The plans for the Harmony Development of Regional Impact envisions 4,000 houses and about 2 million square feet of business space on a 2,701-acre site north of Bridge Road and west of Florida’s Turnpike. The plans for the Hobe Grove Development of Regional Impact call for 4,300 houses and about 4.5 million square feet of business and education space on a 2,823-acre site south of Bridge Road and west of Florida’s Turnpike.

Kenny argued the Harmony project is more viable because its northeast border is adjacent to the Martin County urban service boundary and represents a continuation of the current development pattern, while the Hobe Grove project is farther away from urban development.

Harmony is about a mile away from Hobe Grove, Kenny said during an interview with Scripps Treasure Coast Newspaper editors. Harmony wants to connect to the Martin County utilities system, while Hobe Grove wants to develop its own utility system.

The Harmony company plans to develop its land while the Hobe Grove property has been sold, Kenny said. The two projects are also trying to attract different companies

A data center company has approached the Harmony developers about setting up a 100,000-square-foot facility on the Harmony grounds, Kenny said. He declined to identify the company.

“To truly understand our project, you have to look at it in isolation,” said Nader Salour, another vice president with Harmony Ranch Development Corp. “If you mix them together, you’re not going to understand ours and you’re not going to understand theirs. There are two different owners, two different goals and aspirations. You can’t connect the two.”

Tom Hurley, CEO of Becker Holding Corp. and Hobe Grove Community, agreed the two projects should be considered separately.

” “All projects should be considered individually based on their own merits and benefits,” Hurley said.

Several officials with nearby local governments and the Florida Department of Transportation have called for the analysis of each project to take into account the other project, particularly regarding traffic, Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council records show.