Lake County manager Bill Neron will outline an acquisition strategy Feb. 12 in county chambers at Tavares, FL. The amount of a first-offer purchase price has not been disclosed.

Orlando landowners Karick Price and Willoughby T. Cox, a former banker, have contracted to sell the land to Tampa, FL investor John Reaves, a former quarterback with the Tampa Bay Bandits in the defunct United States Football League (1985).

The contract price with Reaves hasn't been disclosed for obvious reasons, brokers following the 10-year-old controversy tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.

"If there is a possibility the deal with Reaves won't close for any number of reasons, you would want to hold back the contract price from an interested fourth party so that you might be able to negotiate a better deal," a land broker intimate with Lake County dirt prices tells GlobeSt.com.

The initial deadline for Reaves to close on the deal was Jan. 31. Brokers intimate with the transaction tell GlobeSt.com the developers have extended the closing to March 31.

Reaves, Price, Cox, Neron and other elected county officials couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline for an update on the controversy. Price and Cox have five years to close a deal on Sugarloaf Mountain or the project is dead, according to an extension previously approved by Gov. Jeb Bush and his Cabinet.

Anti-development forces want the county to buy Sugarloaf Mountain for a low-ball price of $11.5 million or $8,025 per acre (18 cents per sf). Area brokers tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity they have heard the developers' contract price with Reaves and his investment syndicate is for at least $20,000 per acre (46 cents per sf) or about $29 million.

The county and state agencies combined don't have that kind of money to buy land of any sort, government staffers tell GlobeSt.com. But environmentalists are hoping a pooling of funds by government and private sources might convince the developers to sell at a price lower than the Reaves contract amount and still make a profit.

The value of the land is key to whatever deal the developers do, brokers tell GlobeSt.com, because the Sugarloaf tract could be worth at least $35,000 per acre or 80 cents per sf five years from now when neighboring Clermont, FL blooms into a mini-metropolis.

Another value factor is the expected arrival of Miami-based Lennar Corp. to the Sugarloaf Mountain scene. Lennar won't confirm but county and Minneola, FL elected officials tell GlobeSt.com the Miami homebuilder has made inquiries for a similar mixed-use enterprise on 1,850 adjoining acres it has purchased from an unidentified seller for an undisclosed sum.

Lennar tentatively plans a 4,000-home community of single-family and multifamily units and at least one 18-hole championship golf course. Sugarloaf Mount developers Price and Cox are approved for 2,434 residential units, a number the county and environmentalists would like to see reduced to 700 homes.

Besides the shelter component of the project, Price and Cox had also planned 175 condominium units and two 18-hole championship golf courses. Orlando golfer Arnold Palmer has contracted with Reaves to build the courses at an undisclosed development cost, area brokers tell GlobeSt.com.

Sugarloaf Mountain overlooks Lake Apopka between County Road 561 and County Road 455, 10 minutes from Clermont, FL and Montverde, FL.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Sugarloaf Mountain on Table Again

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