Rolling on the river: Port St. Lucie's image should reflect its ties to St. Lucie River

It’s tough to create a positive image for a city built upon a developer’s scheme to sell real estate at bargain-basement prices. And yet that’s where Port St. Lucie has found itself in the decades since General Development Corp. first began selling tracts to sun-starved northerners for $10 down and $10 per month.

Port St. Lucie can't simply invent a more colorful narrative for how the city was founded. Well, The Villages retirement community in northern Florida pretty much did. But let's assume the people running Florida's sixth largest municipality would prefer to cultivate a reputation that's a little more authentic.

It's an important exercise that affects all of us living along the Treasure Coast, since Port St. Lucie is the economic and entertainment center of our region.

Several months ago, Port St. Lucie employed a private consulting firm to assist in gathering information for the City Identity Project, primarily to design a new logo and other brand identifiers for marketing purposes.

On Monday, a representative from North Star Ideas shared with the Port St. Lucie City Council some of the firm's research findings about how residents and nonresidents perceive the city. While it wasn't specifically discussed at that meeting, the key to unlocking Port St. Lucie's true identity has apparently been staring city leaders in the face all these years.

Or rather, flowing right past their feet.

A river runs through it

Port St. Lucie is a river town. From the survey responses, it's abundantly clear the city's connection to the St. Lucie River is critical to its branding identity.

Consider these responses: When asked to name the city's greatest assets, "the river" and "nature/natural Florida" were among the top responses cited by survey participants.

"The river" and "nature" were again listed among those amenities deemed "most important to identity." And the three most "iconic" aspects of Port St. Lucie? Tradition, Clover Park and ― huge shocker ― the river.

If you had to pick one of those three icons to build around, I think you have to go with the latter option. Tradition, as great as it is, is just one of the city's many neighborhoods. And while I wish more people would come out to support the St. Lucie Mets at Clover Park, the reality is only a small subsection of the community is doing that.

Which leaves the river, which belongs to everybody who lives and visits there.

Brand should distinguish city from others

Oh, there were other areas in which Port St. Lucie scored highly with the survey respondents. Some described it as a family-friendly place. Or a place that's fast growing. Or a place that's conveniently located between two major metro areas.

But when it comes to cultivating the city's unique brand, family friendliness and a fast growth rate are a little too generic to set Port St. Lucie apart from dozens of other cities that have the same characteristics.

And I think Port St. Lucie residents want to be known for something more than being a way station between Orlando and Miami.

There's actually good news here if the city decides to lean into the "river city" concept. Some of the work toward that end has already begun.

If you look at the image gallery at the top of the city's website, each photo incorporates the river in some fashion. So, whether by accident or design, the city has been promoting one of its most prominent assets.

Opportunities abound to play up river theme

Development of the city's Port District is also moving right along, with the Pioneer Park playground, event lawn, restroom building, overwater stage, parking and other related infrastructure scheduled to open next spring. The River Food Garden, which will offer a variety of dining options, is slated to open later next year.

Other phases of the project are expected to come online in the years that follow.

Aside from continuing work on the Port District, is there more city officials could or should be doing to optimize the river connections? Probably.

The city has several other parks along the north fork of the St. Lucie River and (stretching the definition of "river" a bit) the C-24 Canal. There are likely opportunities to improve those parks and better promote them as community assets.

There might be ways to encourage more private river-oriented business enterprises, like the River Lilly Cruises.

Time to go with the flow

It remains to be seen if city leaders will appreciate the value of the data they've uncovered beyond its use in the planned marketing campaign. One of Councilman Anthony Bonna's comments at Monday's meeting gave me a small glimmer of hope.

"This is more than a branding exercise," he said. "It also informs our public policy."

Port St. Lucie can go with the flow and embrace its river-related heritage. Or else city residents and their leaders can settle for being known as a case study of what happens when subdivision planning runs amok.

The choice seems pretty clear to me.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at [email protected] or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Marketing Port St. Lucie as a river town could boost the city's image