 Port St. Lucie is also contained within the Miami - Fort Lauderdale - Port St. Lucie Combined Statistical Area with an estimated population of 6,832,588.Port St. Lucie was a largely uninhabited tract of land south of White City in the 1950s, composed of a fishing camp, a few farms and businesses near U.S. 1.In 1958, with a budget of $5, the General Development Corporation (GDC) purchased the River Park development and along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.