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Michigan Receives Gift of Land Worth $13 Mil From Developer

DETROIT-An owner who bought a small island in Lake Michigan to save it from commercial development is donating it to the state, which is talking with him about his acquiring land in a neighboring island.

By Robert Carr | Updated on January 09, 2001

DETROIT-An ecologically fragile island in Lake Michigan has been donated to the State of Michigan by developer David V. Johnson, chairman of Victor International of Detroit.Johnson bought the island seven years ago to save it from commercial development.

The 836-acre North Fox Island, off the shore of Leland and Charlevoix, isvalued at $15 million. The island includes a 180-foot-high dune formation, a stone/sand beach, and five miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. The state will pay only $2.2 million from a land grant trust for Johnson’s legal and closing expenses, making the donation worth nearly $13 million.

Johnson is the developer of the Bay Harbor Community west of Petoskey, Turtle Lake in Bloomfield Hills and the Parks at Stonewood in Clarkston. Johnson said he bought North Fox Island in 1994 to stop a 535-home, golf course and marina development proposed by Paul Nine of Grand Traverse Resort. Johnson said the plans for the property had caused widespread concern and protests from environmentalists.

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