Hunting for investment opportunities and hunting for wildlife are not necessarily mutually exclusive pursuits. An example of this concurrence can be found in the recent sale of the largest privately owned, recreational hunting tract in Alabama: 4,300 acres known as Fort Pierce.

War of 1812

Steeped in history, Fort Pierce takes its name from stockades built on the property during the War of 1812. The area surrounding the rustic outpost played a pivotal role during the Creek War. In fact, Andrew Jackson made Fort Pierce his headquarters prior to defeating a combined Spanish and British force at the Battle of Pensacola.

JUST ADD WATER. Bass and bream (above) predominate.

World-Class Wildlife

Fort Pierce’s pre-eminence hails from its strategic location: 40 miles north of Mobile near the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. Yet in the 20th century, its well-watered terrain was singled out for a different excellence: game-rich habitat nestled beneath a blend of pristine ­bottomland hardwoods and diverse pine uplands. Abundant rainfall and an array of water sources — creeks, rivers, ponds, and oxbow lakes — enable deer, dove, and duck to thrive.

Without question, the wild ­turkey rank as the standout critter at Fort Pierce. The 1,700 acres of hardwood bottomlands and the 2,600 acres of pine uplands provide critical daytime cover as well as essential nighttime roosts. Insects, a key food source for poults, thrive in and among a profuse assortment of native grasses. The turkey population is so abundant at Fort Pierce that it became a favorite locale for Tom Kelly, author of the bible of wild-turkey ­hunting, Tenth Legion.

TOM TERRIFIC. The Eastern turkey numbers at Fort Pierce may well have no equal.

Scott Paper Company Ownership

For more than two decades, Scott Paper Company utilized Fort Pierce as a corporate retreat. Low harvest numbers and best-in-class wildlife management were standard operating procedures. In 2000, Paul Parham II, a longtime member of the Alabama Forestry Association and a prominent Southern Alabama business leader, purchased Fort Pierce from the paper-products company.

“It’s a dream recreational tract. You have this great mix of forest, river, and wildlife,” says Tim James Jr., who handled the listing for Jon Kohler & Associates. “It has exceptional turkey and deer hunting, the cypress sloughs in the bottomlands fill with ducks in the winter, and there’s freshwater ­fishing for bass and bream. It’s really a recreational paradise.” More to the point, Fort Pierce is exactly the type of property that has traditionally been used by an owner or by a hunting club as a recreational getaway, not a financial investment.

Changing Market Dynamics

But that mindset has changed significantly in recent years, according to broker Jon Kohler. “When I started Jon Kohler & ­Associates 30 years ago, the recreational market really wasn’t an investment asset class because recreational properties typically didn’t provide high annual income,” Kohler says. “There might be a timber component to the property and sometimes a farming component, but the recreational component was always the main value, and that value was ­intrinsic, not financial.

“Now people are opening their eyes to the fact that recreational properties are another asset class that they can invest in and hold money in. As recently as 10 years ago, we didn’t see that. We saw people buying land simply for their own recreation and not for the investment aspects of it. Now these same lands are being used as a safe haven to store wealth. It’s been amazing to watch this change happen.”

OPTIMAL HABITAT. Whitetailed deer also flourish at Fort Pierce.

Enter Tim James Jr.

After Parham passed away in 2014, his family took a wait-and-see approach on marketing Fort Pierce and brought the property to market with a $12.95 million price tag. Despite the many compelling dimensions to the property, there were no takers. James took notice. A grandson of former Alabama governor Fob James, he approached the Parham family about listing Fort Pierce shortly after joining Jon Kohler & Associates in 2017.

Five years would pass before the family ultimately agreed to give James the listing in 2022. The subsequent marketing campaign immediately generated interest – just not from that many Alabamans. Instead, the primary pool of inquiries came from out-of-state investors intent on diversifying their portfolios.

“We’ve seen a huge shift in buyers from other areas looking to the Southeast for high-quality recreational land. But a lot of them are investors looking to own land as a place to park cash,” James says. “Almost all the buyers who looked at Fort Pierce were from out of state. It’s partly because of Alabama’s lower tax rates, and it’s also because there are more opportunities here to buy large chunks of land like this.”

Fort Pierce was an unusual listing for James because of the combination of acreage, natural diversity, and historical significance. In May 2024, Fort Pierce sold to an out-of-state investor at its full listing price of $11.9 million.

“It’s just one of those special properties that you don’t see come around very often,” James says.

Published in The Land Report Summer 2024.