On Dec. 8, the Vero Beach City Council's latest negotiating extension with ClearBlue Holdings runs out. ClearBlue is the developer the city picked for the 38-acre Three Corners site at the foot of the 17th Street bridge. Three days later, at 11 a.m. on Dec. 11, the Youth Sailing Foundation plans to hold the grand opening of its new building on land right next door.
If you drive Indian River Boulevard from the mainland side of town, you've watched that building go up all year. It's the Pat Harris Community Sailing Center. It's also the first piece of the Three Corners vision to actually get built, and it's arriving with a park, a pier and a playground. Those happen to be the same public amenities the much larger project is still trying to figure out how to pay for.
What's Going Up at 17 17th Street
The Youth Sailing Foundation lists the site as 17 17th Street. The entrance sits east of Indian River Boulevard and south of the 17th Street intersection, between Fairlane Harbor and the Alma Lee Loy Bridge. In August, Vero News described a 10,000-square-foot building in a British West Indies style. Architect and urban planner Andre Duany had a hand in the design. The building is concrete block with a metal roof, on a foundation that goes down to marl and coquina.
The ground floor holds instructional space, a 4,000-square-foot boat repair and boat building shop, boat storage, and large restrooms with showers that will be open to the public. Upstairs, a main hall with a steeply vaulted wooden ceiling opens onto a 12-foot-wide veranda facing east over the Indian River Lagoon. Proctor Construction job superintendent Kelly Pipkin told the paper that the LED-lit cupola on the roof will "look like a lighthouse when you are coming over the bridge at night."
Around the building, the foundation's project page lists public access and these outdoor amenities:
- An outdoor classroom and recreational pavilion
- Picnic pavilions
- 250 feet of floating docks
- Dinghy launch ramps
The foundation's December 2025 construction announcement, as published by the Indian River Guardian, added a 180-foot pier to that list. It said the building and the surrounding park, named the Charlie and Chris Pope Marine Recreational Park, would be built at the same time.
The Pieces Three Corners Is Still Working to Finance
Here's where the two projects meet. Project manager Stu Keiller, who is also the foundation's interim executive director, told Vero News the money covers "the building, pier, pavilions, boat ramps, playground and property." The budget is $6.4 million.
"...and it is fully funded," Keiller said. "The park is open to the public."
Now look at Three Corners. According to Vero News on Oct. 22, the main obstacle in ClearBlue's planned $250 million mixed-use development is paying for the public pieces that won't earn enough to fund themselves. Those include a local history promenade, a pedestrian bridge, a community park, a playground, bicycle paths and an observation pier over the lagoon.
The overlap is a park, a playground and a pier over the water. A nonprofit has raised the money for its own version of those and built them next door, while the 38-acre plan is still in negotiation.
City Manager Monte Falls told the council that ClearBlue has identified three possible ways to cover those costs. One is more private capital. Another is state and federal grants, with the city as a participant. The third is a special taxing district, such as a Community Redevelopment District or Community Development District. At the Oct. 13 meeting, the council granted a fourth extension, this one for 54 days. It came with a condition that key members of both negotiating teams meet in person at least once before the deadline. Mayor John Cotugno was named liaison to the negotiations.
Council member Linda Moore called it "the last extension that I would be super comfortable with." Vice Mayor Taylor Dingle pointed out that 539 days had passed since ClearBlue was selected. He also noted it has been nearly nine years since Vero Beach sold its electric utility to Florida Power & Light in October 2017. Council member Aaron Vos argued for staying the course. "We're making progress," he said. "I'd like to see it done."
The full vision on the table still includes restaurants, galleries, two hotels, a 400-seat event center, an 84-slip marina with a floating tiki bar, and the old power plant known as Big Blue folded into the design.
How a $25-a-Month Lease Became the First Shovel
The sailing center got here by staying put. In April 2012, Vero News reported that the council approved the foundation's original five-year lease of a waterfront building at the wastewater treatment plant for $25 a month. Over the years the foundation added floating docks, beach-launch ramps and boat tie-downs on the 3-acre city site. It later signed a long-term lease for that site as part of Three Corners.
Work started Dec. 1, 2025, with the demolition of a wastewater plant tank. The foundation called it the first "shovel in the ground" for Three Corners. The rest of the treatment operation is moving to the city's new One Water Campus near the municipal airport. That move is what clears the larger tract for redevelopment.
The building's name honors Pat Harris. As Vero News reported in 2023, he is the foundation's former board chair and led the organization for eight years. He taught as a certified U.S. Sailing Instructor and kept the fleet maintained himself. The Miller Family Foundation made a $1 million naming gift.
Getting on the Water Before the Ribbon Is Cut
Here's why this matters if you live on the mainland. The sailing program is already running, it's open to adults, and the foundation says paid adult programs fund its free youth and adaptive programs. Keiller told Vero News the adult program had 50 people in August and that he thinks it can quickly grow to 200.
These are the rates posted on the foundation's adult and membership pages in 2026:
| Option | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Guided sail | $170 for two hours, then $85 per hour | Up to four adults, or two adults and three children |
| Private lesson | $170 for two hours, then $85 per hour | One-on-one instruction |
| Adult Learn to Sail | $550 per person | 12 hours of instruction on a flexible schedule, a certificate, and one free educational clinic |
| Adult membership | $650 for 12 months | Online reservations on the club fleet |
| Family membership | $750 for 12 months | Family tier |
| Junior membership, ages 14 to 18 | $290 for 12 months | Junior tier |
Members can book Sunfish, Lasers, Hobie Cats and Flying Scots online. The membership page also advertises weekly racing, adventure sailing and educational clinics. The Flying Scots are the boats adult students usually learn on. Keiller described them as 19-foot sloops with a main and jib, roller furling, and a cockpit that fits four adults. Students learn in the same boat they'll rent later, and experienced sailors can go through a checkout instead. To register or ask questions, the foundation lists 772-492-3243 and [email protected].
For families with kids, the foundation's current youth season for ages 8 to 18 runs through Saturday, Dec. 12. That's the day after the scheduled grand opening.
Early December, in Order
Four dates fall within one week in early December:
- Saturday, Dec. 5, around 6 p.m. The Vero Beach Christmas Parade, per the Indian River Guardian, runs from Cardinal Drive along Flamevine Lane, then up Ocean Drive to Jaycee Park.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, at 6 p.m. The city's Christmas Boat Parade ends just past Royal Palm Pointe Park, which the city lists as a viewing spot.
- Tuesday, Dec. 8. The council's latest negotiating extension with ClearBlue Holdings expires.
- Friday, Dec. 11, at 11 a.m. The Pat Harris Community Sailing Center grand opening is scheduled.
The Dec. 11 date and the Nov. 10 target for finishing the building both come from what the project team told Vero News in August. Keiller and Pipkin both said the job was on schedule. Before you put the ribbon cutting on the family calendar, check with the foundation at ysfirc.org or 772-492-3243. If the building finishes on time, it will be done by Tuesday, Nov. 10. A month later, the first public waterfront building at Three Corners is due to open with a pier, a playground and public showers, while the council decides what comes next for the 38 acres beside it.
If you're watching the lagoon side of town take shape, I'm always glad to talk through how projects like this change daily life around here. Alexis Miller can walk you through what's opening on the mainland and what it means for your corner of Vero. Schedule Your Personalized Vero Beach Consultation.
