City approves Seacoast Bank headquarters, with conditions for landscaping and future right‑of‑way easement

The Stewart City Commission on Sept. 22 approved a major development plan and conditional‑use permit for Seacoast Bank’s proposed headquarters at the southeast corner of U.S. 1 and Colorado Avenue, clearing a 58,647‑square‑foot, three‑story office building, drive‑through teller and a detached parking garage. The commission voted 5‑0 to adopt staff’s recommendation, adding two conditions that staff and the applicant refine tree species and sizes on the Colorado Avenue garage frontage and that the bank not unreasonably withhold an easement to allow future expansion of the Colorado Avenue sidewalk if Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) improvements require it.

The project will be built on an 8.13‑acre site inside the city’s Creek District form‑based code. Staff and the applicant said the redevelopment will increase landscaped green space, modernize an aging 1961 headquarters building, and reduce impervious surface relative to the existing layout by consolidating parking into a structure behind the new building.

The city’s development director, Jody…