Area brokers tell GlobeSt.com the transaction was important locally because it marked the first time a local government disregarded advice from the Lake County School Board to reject a deal involving new school construction. Hagen had previously offered the school board 19 acres of free land to build a school.
When the board publicly refused to go along, Hagen turned to city officials and offered them the 19 acres plus $200,000 in cash. But when officials hedged on that offer, Hagen upped the stake to 60 acres and $300,000. Neither he nor city officials could be reached by GlobeSt.com's publication deadline.
However, school board staffers familiar with the deal tell GlobeSt.com they are "shocked that Minneola sold out so cheaply." A South Lake County broker who has followed the year-long controversy, tells GlobeSt.com, "They (Minneola officials) could have asked for a couple of million if they had their wits about them."
Residents who opposed the annexation tell GlobeSt.com the city "has no idea where they are going to find money to pay for the additional utility and security services" the annexed property will require.
Watching the transaction closely is Miami-based Lennar Corp. which last month withdrew its annex application for 4,000 townhomes and single-family residences in the Minneola submarket. Residents had vigorously opposed the Lennar project.
The rush to develop homes and retail in the South Lake County market comes as the school board projects the city to grow to 10,000 residences in the next 15 years.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
