The Kansas City Royals baseball team has used the site as spring training headquarters for the past 15 years. The defunct Circus World attraction formerly operated there as well. The property is near Lakeland, Fl, a major state distribution hub, 190 miles north of Downtown Miami.

The land price equates to $32,099 per acre or 74 cents per sf, considerably lower than the $25 million tag the dirt carried 10 years ago when several sales deals fell through, land brokers familiar with the asset tell GlobeSt.com.

Busch would provide no further details on the transaction. Posner's Miami Beach-based company, Boardwalk Land Development Co., could not be reached, but industry sources tell GlobeSt.com Posner is planning a mixed-use development on the site.

According to the Florida Department of Corporations, Posner, along with partners Melvin Colvin and Brenda Nestor, formed Boardwalk Land Development two days prior to the property sale on Jan. 19. The three are involved in numerous other ventures, including Miami-based Universal Homes and Trident Homes, where Posner serves either as president or chief executive officer. Posner is also developing a multifamily and single-dwelling venture in West Palm Beach.

Now about 82, the Baltimore-born Posner attracted significant attention in the 1980s and 1990s for his corporate acquisition activities through the publicly trade DWG Acquisition Group L.P. and NVF Co. He was publicized as the highest-paid corporate executive throughout the 1960s and 1979s.

Convicted of tax evasion in the late 1980s, Posner failed on appeal in the early 1990s to overturn an unrelated securities action that ultimately prohibited him and his son, Steven N. Posner, from running any publicly traded company. Defendants in that securities case included Michael R. Milken, the corporate raider, and the investment-banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.

The regulatory action required Posner to divest half of his holdings in DWG, which he then invested into Triarc Companies Inc., the New York-based franchiser of Arby's restaurants and parent of Snapple Beverage Corp. In the late 1990s, he sold his share in Triarc for a reported $124 million.

Instant Insights /

Posner Pays Busch $13 Mil for 405-Acre Kansas City Royals Training Site in Central Florida

Related Stories

Recommended For You