Florida’s Bluffs of Saint Teresa Sells for $43 Million
Florida’s Bluffs of Saint Teresa Sells for $43 Million
By Cary Estes
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SURPLUS TRACT. The Bluffs of Saint Teresa was a portion of a 382,000-acre purchase by Ochlockonee Timberlands from The St. Joe Company in 2014.
The State of Florida, in conjunction with a group of conservation partners, paid $43 million to acquire the Bluffs of Saint Teresa from Ochlockonee Timberlands. The strategic 17,080-acre parcel has Gulf of Mexico access in Franklin and Wakulla Counties as well as miles of frontage along the Ochlockonee River and Ochlockonee Bay. The pristine tract consists of more than 6,000 acres of wetland and almost 11,000 acres of upland terrain.
Ochlockonee Timberlands
The seller, Ochlockonee Timberlands, was represented by Dean Saunders, founder and managing director of SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate. A subsidiary of Utah-based AgReserves, Ochlockonee Timberlands paid The St. Joe Company $562 million in 2014 for almost 600 square miles of nonstrategic timberland and rural land in Northwest Florida. The landmark transaction was recognized as the 2014 Land Report Timberland Deal of the Year.
After that transaction closed, Ochlockonee Timberlands began the process of identifying nonessential tracts. Saunders had been one of the brokers involved in the $562 million St. Joe sale and subsequently listed the Bluffs for $50 million.
Conservation Partnership
All told, Saunders and his team spent five years building the partnership alliance that acquired the property. Numerous entities participated in the multiyear negotiations and eventual transaction. The Nature Conservancy contributed $2.25 million toward the purchase price. Northwest Florida serves as the home of Eglin Air Force Base, which is one of the many reasons the Department of Defense ponied up more than $2 million. The acquisition boosts the total of protected landscape in Florida’s Big Bend area to more than 1 million acres.
The Bluffs of Saint Teresa share a continuous border with Bald Point State Park and remain one of the most expansive tracts of undeveloped land on the Gulf Coast. In addition to 17 miles of waterfront, the landholding includes interior lakes, wetlands, floodplain swamp, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and dunes. The habitat is also home to rare plants and endangered species.
