WEST MELBOURNE — A Boston developer's vision of building an ambitious "urban village" of housing, shopping and office complexes south of U.S. 192 evaporated a decade ago when the real estate market tanked.

Now, drawn by the Space Coast's booming aerospace industry, a Miami development team has resurrected plans to convert cattle pastures into commercial properties and create the "Space Coast Town Center" west of Interstate 95.

Veteran developers Edgar Jones and Robert Gorlow are working on the American Dream Miami mega-mall/entertainment complex — touted as the largest in the nation. They plan to construct 75 housing, retail and office buildings near the St. Johns Heritage Parkway in West Melbourne.

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Space Coast Town Center final cost: $200 million to $300 million, Jones said. The development duo has 160 acres under contract, and they outlined the project last month at West Melbourne City Hall.

"We are creating an amenity-based, mixed-use environment which will include hospitality, office, multi-family (housing) and retail. It's going to be a place where people can walk around the lake. We hope to have restaurants serving the people who live there, who work there, all within walking distance — not something where you have to hop in the car and go to the next interchange," Jones said.

Space Coast Town Center would be bounded by U.S. 192 to the north, Simon Road to the west, an oak-lined Melbourne Tillman Water Control District canal to the south, and Byrd’s Western Store and a borrow-pit lake to the east. The property is bisected by the St. Johns Heritage Parkway, which opened here last November.

Jones hopes to start site work, utility extensions and road work by mid-2019. Afterward, individual parcels would be sold to other developers to construct buildings.

Jones said he has secured commitment from a multi-family housing developer to build 300 units, followed by a 300-unit second phase. A medical services company wants to build an urgent care/medical office building, and he met Tuesday with a hotel developer.

The developers marketed the Space Coast Town Center last week during the International Council of Shopping Centers annual conference at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

"The aerospace and technology and defense industries that are based in the Brevard County-Space Coast area: That has been the impetus for our interest in the market," Jones said.

About the project

According to a conceptual site plan on file at West Melbourne City Hall, Space Coast Town Center may include:

• 1,400 multi-family housing units, inside buildings ranging from four to eight stories

• 360,000 square feet of office space

• 257,000 square feet of retail space

• A 30,000-square-foot grocery store

• A 13- to 15-acre lake, serving as the focal point for a waterfront plaza, offices and residential buildings

• Two hotels behind Byrd’s Western Store, each averaging 135 rooms

"A to Z, it's good for the area. It's growth. And it's something that's unavoidable," said John Byrd, standing behind the counter at Byrd’s Western Store amid cowboy boots, leather belts, turquoise jewelry and other symbols of West Melbourne's past.

Byrd's late father, Hershel, founded Byrd’s Western Store in 1971, and today's location opened in 1986 at the western edge of town. Monday, company officials reminded customers on Facebook that the outfitter is not closing in light of Space Coast Town Center construction.

"Seems like when they put that road in, something like this was going to pop," John Byrd said, gesturing toward the St. Johns Heritage Parkway. "We figured something like this was going to come in 15 years ago."

A tax base 'boon'

The Space Coast Town Center team met with city officials during an Aug. 2 pre-application conference at West Melbourne City Hall.

"From a financial point, this would be very much a boon to the tax base of the city," West Melbourne City Manager Scott Morgan said.

"We would expect that it wouldn't require as much in the way of services as it would potentially pay to the city in taxes. So that benefits existing West Melbourne, where we could keep our tax rate low and expand the base," he said.

Morgan said the project's phased construction stages call for "an employment anchor" to help attract developers to the site.

"If they’re successful in getting primary employment, that benefits the whole area. Obviously, we're already benefiting from a lot of new primary employment in the Melbourne airport area. If they can add to that, that's going to benefit the whole economy of south Brevard County," he said.

From 2010-17, West Melbourne was Florida's 44th-fastest growing municipality in terms of percent change in population, rising from 18,355 residents to 21,360 residents (16.4 percent), University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research estimates show.

West Melbourne led Brevard County on that list, save far-smaller Palm Shores. That town ranked 19th in Florida, growing from 900 residents to 1,114 residents (23.8 percent).

Next year, transportation engineers will study whether Minton Road should be widened from four to six lanes. The St. Johns Heritage Parkway is intended to take motorists off of that congested roadway.

Similar vision failed

In summer 2008, the West Melbourne City Council annexed the property in question while utility negotiations were underway with Boston developer Samuels & Associates, which proposed to build a larger "urban village" south of U.S. 192.

Plans for the 280-acre "Watershed" development called for 1.4 million square feet of shopping space, 1,410 housing units and 475,000 square feet of office space. An elementary school, 320 hotel rooms, parks, ponds and urban plazas were also planned.

Watershed was intended to resemble Baldwin Park in Orlando or Celebration near Walt Disney World Resort, said Christy Fischer, West Melbourne planning and economic development director.

However, the real estate market tanked, and the project never left the drawing board.

Jones and Gorlow work for Triple Five Group, the American Dream Miami developer that owns Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. American Dream Miami — which already has its own Wikipedia page — received zoning approval in May from the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Touted as North America's largest mall, the mega-complex is slated for potential construction at Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 75. But numerous hurdles remain, financing key among them.

Though Space Coast Town Center is far smaller in scale, Fischer said it should take the next decade or thereabouts to take shape.

"It’s a big undertaking. So citizens shouldn’t expect to see this all developed in a two- to three-year time period. This is more like a 10-year-or-more type of development," Fischer said.

Longtime landowner

The landowner is William “Tuck” Ferrell, a descendant of one of Brevard's foremost ranching families. He is also a longtime proponent of the St. Johns Heritage Parkway, attending various governmental meetings wearing a cowboy hat.

The 160-acre target tract used to be part of the sprawling Platt ranch. Ferrell has held the land since 1982, and he leases the property to the neighboring Platts for cattle grazing. The 72-year-old has marketed his land to developers since prior to the Watershed days.

"It's been a cattle ranch. It's also been a family investment. My parents have both passed away, my mom last year. It'll help settle the estate. It came in a timely manner," Ferrell said.

"I've owned that property for 36 years. I've had some chances to sell it. And some things have fallen through over the years. But it's probably time. Every time we put it on the market, it seems we'd have a recession or something," Ferrell said.

"I think they'll do a good job on the town center. I think these people know what they're doing. I've turned down a lot of different things, like truck stops — many truck stops," he said.

Neale is South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638

or rneale@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @RickNeale1

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