New housing development could bring over 3,300 homes to North River area near Bradenton
Newport Isles, a 1,555-acre development, is bringing 3,382 more homes to Manatee County’s booming North River area.
The development — located south of the Hillsborough County line, north of Buckeye Road, east of U.S. 41 and west of Interstate 75 — has a project address of 14000 Grass Farm Road, Palmetto.
Plans for Newport Isles were first presented to Manatee County government as far back as 2005.
In February, the Manatee County Commission approved a request to establish the Newport Isles Community Development District to help pay for infrastructure —roads, water and sewer— on land that has traditionally been used for agriculture. The property also contains a large borrow pit.
Newport Isles is planned for development in four phases between 2022 and 2030.
Recently, Newport Isles developer CC Manatee Development LLC of Clearwater filed paperwork with Manatee County government for mass grading, another term for land clearing.
Newport Isles combines two projects: the 734-acre Newport Isles property which was approved for 1,663 residential units and the 824-acre Sweetwater Preserve property which was approved for 1,719 residential units.
The project received two sets of approvals: one for the preliminary site plan and one for the Gateway Overlay Plan.
The Gateway approval provides the opportunity to develop the property into light industrial, distribution and warehouse use for SeaPort Manatee if the port expanded substantially. Or the developer could stay with residential, the developer said in an update presented with the CDD request in February.
The Gateway Overlay approval is “a very unique zoning approval because it does not expire and it allows us to develop the property without ever going back to the BOCC (county commission) and all future detailed site plans will be submitted and processed administratively,” the developer said in the February status update.
A growing port
SeaPort Manatee has been rapidly growing its business in recent years. Its annual economic impact has grown to more than $5.1 billion, up 30% from two years earlier, while the number of jobs generated by the seaport has grown more than 37%, to 37,287, according to a report released Aug. 16.
The port reported a gain of 32.2% in containerized cargo tonnage in the first half of its fiscal year ended March 31, compared to the same period a year ago.
“The latest impact figures underscore the escalating role SeaPort Manatee is playing in the economic well-being of Manatee County and beyond,” Reggie Bellamy, chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority, said in a press release. “With continuing increases in seaport activity, the impacts as of today are likely even more impressive.”
SeaPort Manatee offers 10 deep-draft berths, handling container, liquid and dry bulk, heavy-lift, project and general cargo customers.
“SeaPort Manatee is bursting at the seams,” Carlos Buqueras, executive director, said Monday of business growth. “The cargo has to be moving in and out quickly. It’s like a pipeline and has to be flowing.”
World Direct Shipping, a Palmetto-based company which has been growing its business rapidly, recently purchased 400 acres of land near the SeaPort for its operations, Buqueras said.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 5:50 AM with the headline "New housing development could bring over 3,300 homes to North River area near Bradenton."
