NYT: Huge Swath of N Florida Land told be sold for potential development
By Urban Talahassee
NY Times
Published: Apr 2, 2015

NY Times - The largest contiguous parcel of undeveloped private land east of the Mississippi River, a vast swath of forest in northern Florida, is going on the market and is expected to bring $1 billion or more when it is sold this year.

The enormous tract of land mostly within Taylor County is currently owned by the Foley Timber and Land Company and clocks in at about 560,000 acres, or nearly the size of Rhode Island.

The land is almost empty except for the cedar, oak and other hardwood trees that cover close to 900 square miles between Tallahassee and Gainesville along the gulf coast just south of the Florida Panhandle.

Foley has modest timber operations on the land that generate about $50 million a year. The land also has a unique distinction for Florida: It has never been hit by a hurricane.

But for a potential buyer, the land represents an opportunity to develop or sell development rights to a largely uninhabited corner of the state.

"The future of Florida is for sale here,” Howard H. Leach, one of the majority owners of Foley, said in an interview. "Growth is going to come, and when it does it is going to be significant.”

To make sure development happened sustainably, Foley worked with the government of Taylor County, where more than three-fifths of the land is situated, on a development plan encompassing 128,000 acres. About two-thirds of that will be designated as open space, while one-third could be developed with housing or commercial properties.

"As stewards of that much land, we felt like we had a responsibility to see what it looked like in the future,” Mr. Leach said. "We knew the growth is going to come, and we saw some responsibility to see it happen in an orderly and attractive manner.”

For more visit the New York Times Online: 560,000-Acre Swath of Florida Land Going on the Market