Port St. Lucie – Cheney Brothers, Inc., a family-owned broadline food distributor, has chosen Legacy Park at Tradition in Port St. Lucie as the home for its newest distribution center.
The proposed 427,000-square-foot, $55 million facility will bring 380 new jobs to the area. Estimated wages per employee will exceed $55,000 plus benefits, approximately 35% higher than St. Lucie County’s average wage.
Founded in West Palm Beach in 1925, Cheney Brothers annual sales now exceed $2.5 billion across the southeast United States. The company currently has more than 2 million square feet of warehouse space in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
“St. Lucie County and the city of Port St. Lucie have been great to work with, and we all look forward to opening this needed facility off Interstate 95 and Becker Road,” said Cheney Brothers CEO and Chairman of the Board Byron Russell.
“The vibrant economic vitality created by attracting industry-leading companies like Cheney Brothers to our county is made possible through the ongoing partnership between St. Lucie County and Port St. Lucie,” said Commission Chair Chris Dzadovsky. “With the creation of 380 new direct jobs and an annual payroll of $20.9 million, Project Bullet certainly hits the target for our county’s residents.”
“We’re proud to welcome Cheney Brothers to Port St. Lucie, and we should take heart in the fact that this economic development victory in the making survived the pandemic, which is no small feat and a testament to Cheney Brothers’ and our community’s resiliency and strength,” said Port St. Lucie Mayor Gregory J. Oravec. “Port St. Lucie’s bright future is made even brighter by this addition. I look forward to seeing hundreds of our citizens going to work for Cheney Brothers, with those citizens, the company, and the community flourishing as a result.”
“We are extremely pleased to have the southeast’s foremost food service provider join the exciting group of companies soon to be calling Legacy Park and the Tradition Center for Commerce home,” said Pete Tesch, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County. “It is particularly gratifying to welcome a homegrown Florida company now in its fourth generation of family operation.”
The new state-of-the-art distribution center will be constructed on 52 acres fronting Interstate 95, located north of the FedEx facility currently under construction. When completed, the facility will service the restaurants, clubs and hotels in the region, and provide a safety net for supplies, if needed, when hurricanes strike, said Russell.
“The Sansone Group is very excited about Project Bullet. Cheney Brothers is the perfect complement to our current and future tenants at Legacy Park,” said Jeffrey Greenwalt, national director of industrial development for the Sansone Group, developers of Legacy Park at Tradition.
The location incentive package includes expedited site plan review and permitting, abatement of city and county property taxes on the new facility for five years at 100%, with tax reductions ramping down for an additional five years; and city impact fee mitigation. St. Lucie County is also offering a five-year Job Growth Investment Grant at $2,325 per new employee.
About the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County
The EDC is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting economic vitality in St. Lucie County through the attraction, retention and expansion of businesses in the community. The EDC works in partnership with local governments and the private sector to advance its goals of creating more and better-paying jobs for residents, broadening the tax base and improving St. Lucie County’s economic quality of life. Contact the EDC at 772.336.6250 or www.youredc.com.
About Cheney Brothers, Inc.
Founded in West Palm Beach in 1925, Cheney Brothers is a Florida-based, family-owned and operated food service company. With annual sales exceeding $2.5 billion, Cheney Brothers is one of the fastest growing broadline food distributors in the U.S. The company operates 16 various facilities across Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, and also distributes internationally to more than 100 countries. For more information and available positions, visit www.cheneybrothers.com.
