FORT PIERCE — The owners of a new antique mall expect to open Hidden Treasures of the Treasure Coast in a few weeks on U.S. 1. (more…)

VERO BEACH — If the owner of Vero Fashion Outlets mall doesn’t answer a $32.15-million mortgage foreclosure lawsuit by Sept. 16, it could lose the right to defend itself in the case, according to attorneys.

If so, a judge could order the outdoor mall at Interstate 95 and State Road 60 — the first large mall in the county — to be sold.

“We plan to stay open during the foreclosure and after,” said West Palm Beach attorney Kenneth Curtin, who represents the mortgage holder, LNV Corp., of Nevada. “The mall will stay the same as it is now, with tenants.” (more…)

VERO BEACH — A Nevada corporation that holds the mortgage for Vero Fashion Outlets is seeking to foreclose on the mall, according to civil lawsuit filed in Indian River Circuit Court.

LNV Corp. of Nevada is seeking $32.15 million, including principal and interest, because the mall defaulted on payments, according to the lawsuit.

“Vero (Fashion Outlets) has defaulted,” wrote attorney Kenneth Curtin, of West Palm Beach, in a lawsuit filed Aug. 26. It is assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Kanarek. No action has been taken in the civil lawsuit and the mall’s owners have not responded to the allegations. Curtin did not return calls Wednesday.
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MARTIN COUNTY — Dorothy McManus got her own personal chauffeured bus from Halpatiokee Regional Park to West Palm Beach to start her work week Monday.

The Stuart resident, who takes a train from West Palm Beach to work in Broward County, had the bus to herself on the inaugural 5:10 a.m. Palm Tran Commuter Express. McManus was the first rider on the area’s first mass transit service offered between Martin and Palm Beach counties on Monday.

Four people hopped on the bus for the service’s 6:10 a.m. departure to Palm Beach County.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Air-conditioning units were stolen early Sunday morning from at least four nearby businesses on Southeast Lennard Road, according to recently released St. Lucie County Sheriff’s records.

The businesses are in the 10200 block of Southeast Lennard Road, east of U.S. 1 near Southeast Mariposa Avenue. They were identified as Express Food Mart, Duke of Oil, Design A Sign and Uptown Motors.
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STUART — An alleged crack dealer’s plan to allow a client to buy him shoes in exchange for drugs was stopped short by Stuart police Friday, according to an affidavit released Monday.

Michael Deshawn Harris, 30, of the 7900 block of Southeast Kingsway Street in Hobe Sound, was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and resisting arrest without violence.

Police had been watching a foreclosed home in the 800 block of Southeast Nassau Street after a suspicious vehicle was reported parked in the driveway several times that day.
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PALM CITY — Martin County Commissioner Ed Ciampi closed his ice cream and chocolate shop at the Publix shopping center on Martin Highway in May and anticipates reopening in late July at a new location in a strip mall on Mapp Road.

It was the second setback for Ciampi’s 3-year-old chain of “Sweet Sarah’s” ice cream and chocolate shops. Last year, Ciampi closed his shop in Port St. Lucie because of a lack of traffic at a shopping center near Veteran’s Memorial Park.

“We all have to adapt to the current economic conditions and I’m doing just that,” Ciampi said. “Three or four years ago, when I started this process, the economy was different. So now I’m making smart decisions to stay in business.”
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STUART - Just before opening arguments were expected to begin this morning in the trial of one of several teens arrested after an officer-involved shooting, Jose Sebastian Francisco’s attorneys and prosecutors reached a plea agreement that will keep him out of prison.

Francisco, 18, was just 17 in June 2008, when a Martin COunty Sheriff’s deputy pulled over the car he was riding in near the Treasure Coast Square Mall in Jensen Beach.

According to witnesses, at least two men in the car attacked Deputy Jason Howard, causing Howard to shoot and kill 21-year-old Miguel Pablo.

Francisco and Pablo’s brother, Francisco Pablo, were arrested on aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest charges.

Jury selection had ended Monday and Francisco’s trial was expected to begin this morning, but prosecutors and Francisco’s attorney Jerome Stone told CIrcuit Judge Sherwood Bauer that they had reached a plea agreement.

Under the agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop the aggravated battery charge and a misdemeanor resisting charge. Fancisco pleaded no contest to a single charge of resisting an officer with violence and was sentenced to two years’ probation. (more…)

JENSEN BEACH — A Port St. Lucie couple were accused Saturday of using their child’s stroller to help them shoplift clothing, according to a report released Tuesday.

Valencia Christine Ivy, 18, and Michael Jenkins Jr., 20, both of the 5600 block of Northwest Macedo Boulevard, have been charged with retail theft.

The report states security at Sears in the Treasure Coast Square mall saw the couple taking items from clothing racks and stuffing them in the bottom of their child’s stroller.

Security confronted the couple when they tried to leave without paying and recovered $246 worth of merchandise from the stroller, the report says.

Deputies issued Ivy and Jenkins notices to appear and released them at the scene.