Lee County government buys 190 acres for animal habitat

BUYER: Lee County, Fort Myers

SELLER: High Point Land Improvement Corp. fka Sanitary Home Improvement Technology Corp.

PROPERTY: 7630 Stringfellow Road and additional land, Saint James City

PRICE: $2 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.8 million, October 2003 and $35,000, September 1998

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt PA, Fort Myers

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Lee County government purchased 190 acres on Pine Island for environmental preservation and animal habitat for $2 million.

The price equated to $10,526 per acres.

The Lee County Conservation 20/20 Program provided $1.98 million for the purchase and $10,000 each came from the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and the Calusa Land Trust.

The Conservation Foundation says the property is home to several threatened species, including the gopher tortoise, wood stork and roseate spoonbill, and also provides habitat for tarpon and snook.

“It's adjacent to 58,000 acres of protected land,” says Dr. Albert Joerger, founder and president of Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast. “It is also immediately next to another 230 acres of property we purchased recently. It had a permitted [Development of Regional Impact], but the land hadn't been zoned yet.”

Joerger says the seller agreed to sell the property for 40% of its appraised value ($5 million as of December 2010).