Palm Beach Aggregates Inc. has let go of more than 1,216 acres where it planned a 2,000-home community west of Royal Palm Beach.
The Loxahatchee-based mining company sold the land to an institutional buyer in a $77 million deal recorded Thursday.
Palm Beach Aggregates once planned to sell the land for nearly four times that amount to Lennar Homes LLC. But political scandal torpedoed the $300 million deal.
The property took center stage in a federal investigation and became mired in litigation in 2006 when federal prosecutors accused Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti of corruption tied to a $100,000 stake held by him and his brother in the proposed development. Masilotti helped secure zoning changes that caused the land’s value to skyrocket.
The deal with Lennar crumbled in the wake of the scandal, but Palm Beach Aggregates continued to pursue plans for the Highland Dunes community. In 2013, the County Commission approved a proposal that changed the site’s zoning from agriculture to a planned unit development near Loxahatchee Groves.
Highlands Dunes Associates Property LLC paid about $63,345 per acre for the land just northwest of Okeechobee Boulevard and State Road 80.
State records link the buyer to Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC, or Pimco, an investment management firm in Newport Beach, Calif.
Source: DBR