Danish Pension Fund Buys 90,000+ Acres in New York

Published reports indicate that the Adirondack Chapter of the Nature Conservancy has sold 90,593+ acres of the former Finch Paper holdings to a subsidiary of the Danish pension fund ATP. The sale to ATP was handled on a sealed bid basis by LandVest. The acreage will be managed by RMK Timberland Group, a business unit partner of Regions Morgan Keegan Trust and Morgan Asset Management, and is subject to both a fiber supply agreement with the current owners of the Finch Pruyn mill and a conservation easement.

The Land Report reported on the original sale in the August 2007 issue (see below) and the estimated sales price per acre in 2007 was $683 per acre. According to the Timberland Blog, the 2009 purchase price was 180 million Kroners, which comes to about $361 per acre or almost 50 percent less than The Nature Conservancy paid two years ago primarily because of the conservation easement.

CNL Acquires Jiminy Peak

Two months ago, CNL Lifestyle Properties snapped up Crested Butte, Okemo, and Sunapee for $132 million. Now the Florida-based real estate investment trust has acquired another ski resort, spending $27 million for Jiminy Peak. Here’s the press release: Read more

Land Report 100er No. 87 Takes the Chair at The Nature Conservancy

Roger Milliken Jr., president and CEO of Maine’s Baskahegan Co., was named chairman of the board of The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest conservation organizations. The announcement was made earlier this month. Milliken, whose family’s company owns more than 100,000 acres of Maine timberland through Baskahegan and ranks No. 87 on the 2008 Land Report 100, has been a member of The Nature Conservancy board since 2000 and a member of the Maine chapter’s board of trustees for more than 10 years. He succeeds John Morgridge, former CEO of Cisco Systems. Read more

CNL Lifestyle Properties to Pay $132 Million for Crested Butte, Okemo, and Mount Sunapee

CNL Lifestyle Properties, an Orlando-based real-estate investment trust (REIT) will announce today that it is acquiring Crested Butte Ski Resort in Colorado (pictured), Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont, and Mount Sunapee Ski Resport in New Hampshire from Triple Peaks LLC of Ludlow, Vermont. According to The Wall Street Journal, CNL will pay $132 million for the three ski areas, which Triple Peaks will continue to operate. Read more

Chesapeake Gets $3+ Billion Injection for Marcellus Shale

So the bottom has fallen out of the energy markets and commodity prices are dropping even lower. Next step? Time to welcome the overseas investors. Remember, folks, we’ve got trillions of dollars of assets tied up in land, and all of it is protected by Old Glory. No matter how bad Wall Street is faring, no matter how low consumer confidence drops, there are plenty of eagle-eyed investors with very deep pockets who look at our timberland, our shorelines, our minerals, and even our water, and what do they see? Read more

Lowest Property Taxes in U.S.? Alabama

Alabamans pay on average just $477 per person in property and real taxes. That’s one of the many conclusions of this 64-page background paper from the Washington-based Tax Foundation that was released earlier this month. But you already knew that because you read this post at LandReport.com on Alabama’s low tax rates several months ago. Guess which state finished at the bottom of the list?

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The Great Plague Returns?

Trees, leaves, and changing colors are one of the glorious rites of fall. Yet the more wild places I visit from coast to coast, the more it becomes apparent that it’s not crisp autumn nights that is coloring these trees and thousands more on millions of acres of land. It’s a blight with all sorts of scientific names that landowners simply refer to as ”beetle kill.” Read more

Maine Goes Public on 10 Million Acres

The last and largest contiguous block of forestland east of the Mississippi – more than 10 million acres – is up for grabs … at least as far as public policy goes. Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission is now holding public workshops, which will soon be followed by public hearings, which will then be used to develop a Comprehensive Land Use Plan for the Pine Tree State. Get ready. Read more

Market Report: New England Timberland

Regional Spotlight: New England Timberland
 
Looking to get into the New England timberland market? Check out out our market report inside. Read more

America’s Aristocrats: Gardiner’s Island

Fly into JFK, look toward the setting sun, and you see Manhattan, the city that never sleeps, the Big Apple. Turn the other direction, however, and drive two hours east—past the scenic Southampton Golf Club and Napeague State Park—and you’ll take in a much different vista: a land where time stands still. Read more

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