Viera: the Duda family's ranch land and the planned community built on it since 1989

Viera is the planned community that the Duda family’s development company has been building in central Brevard since 1989. The land is older family property. According to The Viera Company, A. Duda & Sons began in 1926, when the Slovak immigrant Andrew Duda and his three sons raised their first cash crop of celery, and in the early 1940s the sons, John, Andrew Jr. and Ferdinand, bought a 43,000-acre tract in Brevard County. That tract is now Viera.

1989: the plan and the public buildings

The Viera Company dates the announcement of its master plan to 1989. The same year, by its account, ground was broken for the Brevard County Educational Services Facility on 30 acres the company donated, and it gave the county another 53 acres for what it calls the Brevard County Government Operations Center. The donations kept coming:

Year	Milestone, as The Viera Company lists it
1989	Master plan announced; 30 acres for the school district’s Educational Services Facility; 53 acres for the county government center
1991	56 acres donated for the new Brevard Zoo; Viera Realty established
1994	Viera East Golf Course opens; Stadium Parkway opens
1996	Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Justice Center opens; Veterans Administration clinic opens on 40 donated acres; construction begins on Wickham Lakes, the first neighborhood west of I-95
2004	The Avenue Viera shopping center opens; about 14,000 residents
2006	Viera High School opens; about 18,000 residents
2010-2012	Health First Viera Hospital opens; nearly 20,000 residents
2013-2014	25th anniversary; more than 9,657 homes and 22,000 residents

The company’s list also records the first residential community to begin construction, Hammock Lakes, and Viera Boulevard built from U.S. 1 to Murrell Road. In 2008-2009 the Viera Wilderness Park was approved, more than 5,200 acres to remain undeveloped.

County government moved in

The public buildings made Viera the county’s working center. The Board of County Commissioners meets at the Brevard County Government Center in Viera, and the developer lists the County Manager, Planning and Development, Public Works, Public Safety, Natural Resources Management and the Clerk of Court among the offices on the campus, with the Moore Justice Center within walking distance and the School Board across the street. Titusville remains the county seat; our county government page explains the split.

Further Reading

• Florida: A Short History by Michael Gannon