November 2007

Vero Beach Hotel & Club Opens Final Phase in January 2008

The Treasure Coast’s seaside town of Vero Beach is known for quiet streets lined with ancient oaks, private banks, and country clubs. And while charming boutiques, museums and nature preserves beckon visitors from around the world, luxury accommodations have been as elusive as a Saturday night reservation at the Ocean Grille.

With the completion of the final phase of the Vero Beach Hotel & Club in January, a void is finally filled for travelers seeking five-star hotel accommodations in the understated town ranked by Money Magazine as one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country.

A member of the prestigious Preferred Hotel Group, the Vero Beach Hotel & Club opened its first phase in February with 50 one-and two- bedroom designer suites. The final phase of the property opening January 2008 includes 33 two- and three-bedroom designer suites, the signature Indigo Room restaurant and lounge, and an executive boardroom and private event room.

Located on Vero’s famed Ocean Drive, the four-story hotel now offers 83 fully furnished designer suites with exquisitely detailed West Indies-style décor in true Vero understated elegance. Amenities include Heaton’s Reef Bar & Grill, private beach club, cabanas, heated ocean view pool and aquaspa, fitness center, golf privileges at the Indian River Club, concierge, laundry, valet parking and business center services. The luxurious 5,000-square-foot White Orchid Spa is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2008.

A truly unspoiled “gem,” Vero Beach has been named one of the nation’s top 100 getaways in Joan and David Vokac’s 2008 “Great Towns of America” travel guide because of its ability to maintain the quiet sophistication of a seaside village with Old Florida charm, while offering a myriad of international cultural pursuits, fine dining, growing commerce, and extensive water and land sports.

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Another orange tree, infected by the spit of a gnat-size insect and condemned by a scarlet letter X, is “pushed.” Death came in six seconds.

On this day alone, in this single grove, 300 trees will be clipped and burned. It’s like this every day now for the citrus industry, under attack by a new threat called greening.

“A sad deal,” said Jim Snively, a fourth-generation grower.”Florida orange juice isn’t going away, and neither are we,” said Ricke Kress, Southern Gardens’ president.

Like cattle ranchers, citrus growers represent old Florida at its best. They tend to be genuine, humble and polite — “sir” and “ma’am,” “darn” and “shoot,” boots and jeans. And a wide streak of tenacity.

“Don’t forget,” Sparks said, “the whole state of Florida just cannot be condos and highways.”

Sometimes, though, it seems that it is.

You can drive along Florida’s Turnpike from Hollywood to beyond Orlando — a route colored by groves as recently as 10 years ago — with hardly an orange or grapefruit tree in sight.

Commercial acreage is down from 941,000 in 1970 to 832,000 in 2001 to 621,000 now, citrus morphing into condos in Davie and Bradenton, Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie, Lakeland and Clermont.

But 621,000 acres, the equivalent of 970 square miles, is not insignificant. And, from the growers’ perspective, fewer trees do not necessarily mean financial ruin.

In the world of commodities, less supply nearly always means higher prices, so although acreage plummeted 22 percent between 2004 and 2005, the value of Florida’s scarcer citrus crop increased 14 percent to $1.02 billion. Last year, sales rose to $1.36 billion.

As those cash receipts rebound around Florida’s farm supply stores, trucking companies, processing plants, supermarkets, shopping malls and other businesses, they end up contributing about $9 billion in indirect annual economic impact, according to the University of Florida, state officials and the Citrus Mutual.

In the lobby of the group’s office building in downtown Lakeland, a plaque honors Citrus Mutual pioneer A.B. Michael, a grower from the Vero Beach area. Michael’s pet phrase was, “Don’t fret.”Click here for more of this article…