Swiftmud buys 191 acres for restoration project

BUYER: South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach

SELLER: Helen Connone, as trustee of the Connone Family Grantor ABC Trust

PROPERTY: 27600 Vincent Road, Bonita Springs

PRICE: $2.73 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $32,000, May 1964

SELLER: Helen Connone, as trustee of the Helen G. Connone Trust (1/2 interest) and Terry, Jack and Joyce Connone and Jill O'Keefe (1/2 interest)

PROPERTY: 15600 Bonita Beach Road S.E., Bonita Springs

PRICE: $1.1 million

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: Title Services of Southwest Florida Inc., Fort Myers

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The South Florida Water Management District purchased 191.12 acres for $3.83 million.

The price equated to $20,026 per acre.

Swiftmud acquired the property, vacant land across from the Village Walk of Bonita Springs, for the Southern Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed project, a watershed restoration effort known as Critical CREW. The property is in the middle of existing CREW property and will connect the eastern and western properties and allow drainage to run into the Kehl canal and eventually into the bay.

The Florida Legislature supplied funds for the purchases through the Florida Forever Trust Fund. The two tracts appraised at $3.03 million.

The Critical CREW project is expected to eventually stretch across more than 4,670 acres. It's designed to restore wetlands, improve regional flood protection and drainage and increase water storage.

Over the past decade, the district has acquired 4,000 acres for the project. It also has cleared exotic vegetation from 2,560 acres and removed roads and plugged agricultural ditches on 640 acres.