A plan to build three duplexes on a wooded lot on the west side of A1A between Shore Drive and Tides Road cleared a major hurdle last week when Vero’s Planning & Zoning Board unanimously approved the site plan at its April 2 meeting.

The six two-story, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath townhomes, just steps from the Atlantic Ocean, are expected to sell for more than $1 million each.

FTK Properties, LLC, developer of the new Sea Winds Townhomes, will now seek building permits from Indian River County. No contractor has been selected yet, said Tyler Spencer, a senior project manager at LJA Engineering, formerly known as Carter Associates.

The buildings were designed by architect Greg Anderson, who also designed the two-story luxury townhomes in Surf Club, located a quarter of a mile south on the east side of A1A. The new townhomes will have a similar West Indies style, Spencer said. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year and be complete within 18 months.

The .85-acre parcel is zoned RM-13, residential multifamily high density, which would allow FTK to construct up to 11 dwelling units. Instead, the developer decided to build six 2,500-square-foot units with space in front of each townhome for a yard or a small pool and enough room in back for two-car garages, plus an extra uncovered parking space. City code only requires parking for two vehicles per unit.

Vehicles will enter the site from Shore Drive on the south side and exit onto Tide Roads to the north. The Florida Department of Transportation does not allow vehicle ingress and egress from the development directly onto A1A. County and city codes also discourage it, Spencer said.

Owners of several of the homes to the west of the site spoke during the April 2 P&Z public hearing to express concerns about privacy and traffic on their streets, particularly at the intersection of Tides Road and A1A. Ikarta Concierge & Functional Medicine is located on the northwest corner of that intersection and has a fair amount of traffic during business hours, neighbors said.

Board members explained that the planned ingress and egress is within the requirements of city code. Also, if FTK had chosen to build 11 dwelling units as zoning allows, instead of six, there would have been considerably more traffic, the board noted.

Neighbors had similar comments at a neighborhood workshop held by the developer last year. But board members agreed that Spencer and FTK had adequately addressed questions and concerns that came up at that meeting.

Spencer noted that the landscape design calls for 10-foot-tall maple trees on the west edge of the property, along with cabbage palms and a hedge consisting of five species of plants, including hardy Cocoplum and Buttonwood shrubs. About 33 cabbage palms currently on the site will be preserved and replanted around the border of the property. Once fully mature, the landscaping will provide an adequate privacy and sound buffer, Spencer said.

A 5-foot vinyl fence also will be erected, and 5-foot-wide sidewalks will be constructed along the north and south borders of the property. An 8-foot-wide sidewalk already runs along A1A east of the property.

A February 2025 gopher tortoise survey turned up one abandoned burrow. Spencer said FTK will conduct a second survey before construction begins.

A lift station will be constructed near the northwest corner of the property to transfer wastewater from the duplexes to the City of Vero Beach Utilities forced sewer main on Tides Road, Spencer added. Vero Beach will also supply drinking water.

FTK Properties has owned the three lots that make up the development parcel for three years. The lots were platted as part of the Silver Shores Subdivision and were previously owned by Lost Tree Village Corporation, developer of John’s Island. The corporation sold the parcel for $500,000 in 2003 to prominent publishing executive Everett William “Bill” Kenyon, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 93.

According to his obituary in the New York Times, “Bill and his wife, France, moved to John’s Island in 1994 ... [where] Bill was a founding member of the John’s Island Foundation and a board member of the VNA Hospice Foundation. Bill served on the Indian River Shores Town Council as a councilman from 2003-2007, Vice Mayor from 2007-2009 and Mayor of Indian River Shores from 2009-2011. A volunteer fireman in his earlier years, Bill made sure that the town’s police and fire departments were well funded and had the resources they needed to protect the community.”

France Kenyon sold the land to FTK Properties, LLC, for an undisclosed sum in December 2022. She is listed as manager of the company by the Division of Corporations. Kenyon also is president of PAC Media Group, a company founded by her husband and located in Vero Beach, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The property is directly across the street from the largest remaining piece of vacant oceanfront development land in Vero Beach. That 8-acre parcel, which development-minded island brokers have been trying to buy or list for decades, is zoned C-1A, tourist oriented commercial. The zoning allows for tourism-related businesses, including restaurants or a hotel, and there have been recurrent rumors over the years about a Ritz Carlton hotel project on the property – but none of those rumors have come to pass, so far.