Billionaire buys Naples tract

A partnership tied to billionaire Palm Beach investor Jeff Greene has acquired a more than 2,500-acre tract in North Naples for $38.5 million, the largest land sale of the past year in that swath of Southwest Florida involving an ongoing agricultural and mining operation.

Greene's 27th/Pico Boulevard Ltd. Partnership acquired the 2,576-acre tract in mid-May from State Road 846 Land Trust Agreement, whose co-trustees are Michael J. Boran and Ronald L. Brown, according to a trustee's deed filed in Collier County.

“This transaction provides the buyer with an opportunity to continue a successful mining and agriculture operation, while determining the future potential of the property,” says Randy Thibaut, the CEO of brokerage firm Land Solutions Inc., who together with senior broker William Rollins of that firm represented the sellers.

The property, on Jones Mining Road roughly a dozen miles from Interstate 75, also ranks as one of the largest land sales of 2016 in Collier County, records indicate.
Neither Greene nor Harvey Oyer, a Shutts & Bowen LLP attorney who represents 27th/Pico, could be reached for comment on the purchase. Greene, who owns several large sites nationwide, is currently working to develop properties in both Florida and California.

The North Naples sale marks the latest in a series of significant deals in that section of Collier.

Also last month, 320 acres in the Valencia Golf & Country Club were purchased for $30 million. Roughly 900 residential units are expected to be developed there.
And early last year, 630 acres adjacent to 27th/Pico's land was sold for $9.76 million to the Trust for Public Lands.

“In this case, the buyer was looking to acquire through a long-term hold a position to possibly take advantage of North Naples' growth,” Thibaut says. “This deal also comes about as Collier County is going through a process to assess its future growth needs.”