Project Spotlight: Blue Sky Landing

Along the shore of a lake in Fort Pierce, FL, Blue Sky Landing gives residents something affordable housing rarely gets credit for: a view worth coming home to. The 164-unit community spans two buildings and offers studio, one, two, and three-bedroom floor plans, each with lake views, alongside a clubhouse and resort-style pool that give the property the feel of a market-rate address.

WGI partnered with Blue Sky Communities, a Tampa-based affordable housing developer, to help move Blue Sky Landing from acquisition to entitlement on a schedule that outpaced comparable multifamily developments. For a developer competing against other projects for the same finite pool of FHFC tax credits, that speed carried real weight.

Building Through a Flood Hazard Area

The site sat within a Special Flood Hazard Area, a constraint that shapes nearly every downstream engineering decision on a project like this.

WGI's team coordinated planning, civil engineering, stormwater management, landscape architecture, and survey work simultaneously rather than in sequence, catching technical conflicts early and designing stormwater solutions resilient enough to satisfy local, state, and federal review at once.

Securing Entitlement Through Innovative Design

Working alongside Blue Sky Communities and City of Fort Pierce staff, WGI secured Major Site Plan approval using a density bonus tied to innovative site design and the development's proximity to public transit. The permitting strategy folded vegetation removal, landscape review, civil design, stormwater approval, and utility coordination into one coordinated push, keeping the project moving through agency review without the stop-and-start delays that typically stretch these timelines.

Building Community Consensus

Entitlement approval also depended on public support. WGI facilitated meetings with neighboring residents, project stakeholders, and City officials, then carried that engagement through Planning Board hearings and City Commission presentations.

That groundwork helped the project align with Fort Pierce's own goals for expanding affordable housing, turning what can be a contentious approval process into a collaborative one.

Delivering Housing on an Accelerated Timeline

Blue Sky Landing received Major Site Plan approval roughly five months after contract execution, a pace well ahead of the entitlement timelines common on multifamily developments with comparable site complexity. The community delivered 164 units across two phases of 82 units each, giving Fort Pierce new affordable housing stock and giving Blue Sky Communities a model for how integrated delivery can shrink the gap between acquisition and construction.

Contact Us

At WGI, we bring planning, civil engineering, landscape architecture, and entitlement expertise together under one team to help affordable housing developers move faster without cutting corners.

If you're navigating a complex site or a competitive funding cycle, contact us today to learn how our integrated approach can help deliver your next project.