Medallion advances Moore's Dairy site project

Developer Carlos Beruff plans to coordinate the extension of Port Harbour Parkway with improvements to Upper Manatee River Road.

By Pam Eubanks
| 6:00 a.m. September 9, 2015

Developer Carlos Beruff says he could invest money for the Port Harbour Parkway extension into other projects, but prefers to spend the money now if it prevents tearing up newly built portions of Upper Manatee River Road later.

East County
News

EAST COUNTY — Medallion Home founder and owner Carlos Beruff isn’t in a hurry to build a new 1,400-home community off Upper Manatee River Road.

But, rather than wait a few years to start on the project, like he’d prefer, he’s moving it through Manatee County’s development process now so development can coincide with other local infrastructure projects.

The project’s main roadway, Port Harbour Parkway, will become final piece of an east-west connection through the overall Heritage Harbour development, spanning from Kay Road east across Interstate 75 to Upper Manatee River Road, which Manatee County is widening as part of its project to build the Fort Hamer Bridge across the Manatee River.

"In a perfect world, I'd probably wait another 12 to 18 months to bring the project forward," Beruff said. "I don't need the inventory. But I want construction of Port Harbour Parkway to coincide with improvements to Upper Manatee River Road, so we don’t have that beautiful public road in place and then I come in a few years later and tear it all up. Let’s try to get it done at the same time. The idea is to get everybody aligned."

Manatee County is widening Upper Manatee River Road to 24 feet and adding sidewalks and installing paved bicycle lanes as part of the Fort Hamer Bridge project, slated for completion in early 2017. (See sidebar).

Fort Hamer Bridge project

Manatee County is currently working to build the Fort Hamer Bridge across the Manatee River. The bridge connects Fort Hamer Road, in Parrish, to Upper Manatee River Road to the south.

As part of the project, which should be complete in early 2017, the county will improve Upper Manatee River Road to include additional sidewalk, paved bicycle lanes, grass shoulders, right and left turn lanes at each intersection, milling and resurfacing and the widening of the road to 24 feet. Cost for that portion of the Fort Hamer Bridge project is $2.7 million.

Currently, contractors are clearing and dewatering land along Upper Manatee River Road from Winding Stream Way to the edge of the Manatee River. They also are performing utility work there, said Trudy Gerena, senior public information officer for the project.

Farther north, contractors are completing clearing and utility work on Fort Hamer Road and installing sidewalk on the west sir of the road. They also are constructing the northern approach to the bridge, setting concrete beams on top of the piers and making other bridge-related improvements.

Beruff could wait to build Port Harbour Parkway and use monies for roadway construction — between $2 million and $3 million for a roughly one-mile, two-lane roadway — on other business deals or projects. But, he says, being proactive will be worth the investment.

“It’s just not pretty,” he said of tearing up the road to install utility and other connections. “It’s like getting a new car and six months later, it has a dent in it. We all want a beautiful road and we don’t want to dig into it.”

Medallion continues to work on site plans for the project, located south of Waterlefe and north of Greenfield Plantation, and expects to bring its proposal before the Manatee County Commission within the next six months. The project is located within Heritage Harbour’s overall development of regional impact but will be separate from the Heritage Harbour community. Beruff’s plan includes about 1,400 units, about double its current entitlement of 735 units.

Beruff's plans include 334 paired villas, 164 four-unit condo buildings, 504 single-family homes and 384 apartment units, as well as a 200-bed assisted-living facility and five acres of neighborhood commercial. Beruff says the changes better suit the market compared with when the plan was developed more than a decade ago and Manatee County had no specific plans to build the Fort Hamer Bridge.

But, when the bridge project pushed forward in 2009, it changed the dynamics of the property, making it a thoroughfare to connect to U.S. 301.

"The dynamics of the location have changed," Beruff said, noting the commercial portion will help keep neighborhood services, such as a dentist or nail salon, close to homes and keep traffic off other roadways. "You use the land as the market dictates."

The assisted-living use sits on small acreage, about seven acres, and produces little traffic, while the apartments also will address demands within the area — occupancy rates for apartments in Lakewood Ranch, for example, all are above 97%.

“When you plan big projects, you recognize the market is the market,” Beruff said, noting buildout of the community’s proposed 1,400 homes will take more than a decade and phases of development have not yet been determined. “You need flexibility.”

Port Harbour Parkway will act as the community’s main thoroughfare, with communities stemming off and away from the roadway.

Longtime Heritage Harbour resident Lee Bettes said residents are pleased with the reconfiguration of Port Harbour Parkway that Medallion proposes.

"Everybody's relieved Moore's Dairy is only going to connect directly to Port Harbour Parway and not into any of the existing neighborhood communities," Bettes said. "We had two roads that were gong to plug into there, and they don't do that now."

The roadway also will provide an alternative travel route to I-75, which is needed, he said.

Beruff said construction of the project’s first phase may coincide with development of Port Harbour Parkway, but he has not yet decided. It could come later.

“We’re focused on getting the road and alignment right,” Beruff said. “Once that road is there, everything will go around it.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].