Crush Wine Bar is one of several businesses in downtown Stuart that closed to make way for the Azul Apartments development.

A real estate development firm based in Delray Beach is preparing to break ground for construction of an apartment building in downtown Stuart.

Delray-based New Urban Communities has nearly completed demolition work on a 1.4-acre site in downtown Stuart known as the Triangle Property.

New Urban is clearing the site for a rental property development called Azul Apartments, a three-story, 49-unit building that the company expects to complete in 2020.

Led by principal Keith Rickard, New Urban is redeveloping the city-owned site under a 99-year lease agreement with the city of Stuart. The city bought the Triangle Property in 2013 for $1.5 million as part of an effort to revitalize the downtown area.

The planned apartment building is designed with 38 with two bedrooms, seven with one bedroom and four with three bedrooms.

The 1.4-acre development site in downtown Stuart is bounded by Dixie Highway, Joan Jefferson Way and Southwest Albany Avenue. Photo credited to Credit: TCPalm.com and Xavier Mascareñas. [TCPalm.com] — Mike Seemuth

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