$500 Million Everglades Deal Postponed Again

Florida Gov. Charlie Christ is getting a lesson that real estate brokers know all too well: big deals take time.

It’s been almost two years since Christ announced the $1.75 billion purchase of 187,000 acres in the Florida Everglades from United States Sugar. Since then the economy has tanked and the purchase price has been lowered twice: to $1.34 billion and now $536 million. In each instance, the number of acres has also fallen: first, to 180,000, and, in the most recent iteration, to 72,500. Faced with a March 30 deadline, the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District voted 9-0 to extend the closing for another six months.

An added element to the high-profile transaction was an in-depth front-page story in The New York Times last week that questioned many deal points, including the cost per acre, which The Times suggested is much too high, the tracts themselves, which The Times suggested include some of the least valuable belonging to U.S. Sugar, and the purpose of buying six separate tracts without reaching out to Florida Crystals, United States Sugar’s chief competitor and the owner of key blocks of adjacent land.

But the principle focus of the article was how Gov. Christ’s plan to save the Everglades will instead rescue United States Sugar. Since its publication, supporters and detractors have descended upon the media with their own interpretations of the deal.

Read more from a gubernatorial candidate who opposes the purchase HERE.

Read more about environmentalists who support the purchase HERE.

Billion-Dollar Everglades Sale Drastically Downsized

Florida’s ambitious Everglades restoration plan has been drastically scaled back, a victim of the economic recession. Originally slated to be a 187,000-acre, $1.75 billion deal when announced in June 2008, the deal has gone back to the drawing board on two occasions. On Wednesday, April 1, Florida Gov. Charlie Christ announced the most recent revision of the ambitious plan: $533 million for 72,500 acres of citrus and sugar cane fields that presently belong to U.S. Sugar.

Read more at:
“Crist Announces Scaled-Back U.S. Sugar Land Deal,” The News-Press, April 1, 2009.

U.S. Sugar Approves Sale of 180,000 Acres in the Everglades for $1.34 Billion

Today U.S. Sugar announced that its board of directors had approved the sale/leaseback of 180,000 acres to the South Florida Water Management District for $1.34 billion ($7,444 per acre). The transaction ranks as one of the largest of 2008 and is the culmination of intense negotiations between the privately held company and the water district that will create a natural flow of water between Lake Okeechobee and the southern Everglades. The complete press release from U.S. Sugar follows.. Read more

Florida to Pay $1.75 Billion for 187,000 Acres in the Everglades

In a massive deal announced earlier today, the State of Florida will acquire almost 300 square miles of the Everglades in and around the south end of Lake Okeechobee from U.S. Sugar Corp. for $1.75 billion ($9,000+ per acre). Read more