GROVELAND, FL-Lake County's decision to buy a frozen-out, 733-acre citrus tract for about $5,000 per acre 20 years ago is paying off as the county nears completing the sale of its last 23 acres at the Christopher C. Ford Commerce Park. The property is about 30 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

County staffers confirm for GlobeSt.com the county's Economic Development Department is advertising the parcel as it begins negotiations with early bidder Service First Logistics Corp. of Memphis. The county is asking $1.7 million, or about $73,913 per acre ($1.70 per sf), up from an average asking price of $35,000 per acre, or 80 cents per sf, 10 years ago.

If it can buy the 23 acres, the Tennessee firm plans to develop two warehouses on the site that could employ about 60 workers over the next three years, the company has told county officials. The county owns another 35 acres at the park that is being used by the Public Works Department to store materials and equipment.

Although the county has owned the 733 acres since the 1985-86 freezes of thousands of acres of orange and grapefruit groves in south Lake County, the industrial park at US 27 just north of State Road 19 wasn't formally created until 1992. The park is named for a deceased county attorney.

The park, housing 20 businesses, has attracted numerous national companies but also suffered some tenant losses in 2001 and 2002. Marriott Distribution Services vacated its 126,500-sf plant in 2002 and Toyota Marine Sports, a division of Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. left in 2001 when regional and national sales of pleasure boats dipped, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.