State, Lee County Buy Babcock Ranch for $350M

MIAMI-In the largest conservation land deal of its kind in Florida, the state and Lee County have jointly acquired the 91,361-acre Babcock Ranch in Lee and Charlotte counties for $350 million. The purchase price covers 74,000 acres which will be used entirely as a permanent wildlife corridor from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico.

The remaining 17,361 acres will be developed by a joint venture of West Palm Beach-based Kitson & Partners, Evergreen Partners and New York City-based Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, according to principals at the Miami law firms of Akerman Senterfitt and White & Case, which brokered the transaction. The JV purchased the Florida Babcock Co. from the Babcock family investment group for an undisclosed price and sold the land parcel to the state and Lee County.

The $350 million tag for the 74,000 acres equates to $4,730 per acre or about 11 cents per sf. The ranch has been in the Babcock family since 1914 and is considered one of the oldest properties of its kind in Florida.