Escambia To Consider OLF-8 Proposals In April. Right Now, $38 Million Is Top Offer.

March 6, 2023

Escambia County is set to consider offers for OLF-8 at an April 6 public meeting.

There are two offerson the table now for the 540 acre county-owned property on Nine Mile Road.

Breland Companies of Huntsville, Alabama, had made a $35 million cash offer for the property. Breland, according to the company, is a nearly 50-year old real estate development firm that has developed over 500 residential communities with over 30,000 units, plus multi-family, office and retail developments.  Those developments have been anchored by companies that include BJ’s Wholesale, Starbucks, Chipotle, Outback, Deluth Trading, and others.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton made a $33 million proposal, but then upped it to $38 million after Breland’s offer.

A third company has expressed interest in submitting a proposal but at last report had not.

It is expected that Breland and D.R. Horton will make their proposals before the Escambia County Commission on April 6.

A master design plan approved by the commission is in place for the property with a combination of commerce, residential and amenities.

Breland said in their proposal that they would follow the master plan while D.R. Horton said they would write a master plan of their own.

The commission has formally acknowledged receipt of the offers and directed the county administrator and attorney and have non-exclusive negotiations with both parties and any other company that makes an offer.

Comments

17 Responses to “Escambia To Consider OLF-8 Proposals In April. Right Now, $38 Million Is Top Offer.”

  1. Mark on March 7th, 2023 11:59 pm

    If Breland is following the master plan then you gotta go with them. Consider this. The master plan was approved by the voters because it is a use that is consistent with sound economic policy and will develop the land in a way that is good for the county. D.R. Horton’s potential master plan considers nothing except their own bottom line. The county has a duty to sell the land to the developer who is acting in the county’s best interest.

  2. Carola on March 7th, 2023 11:44 pm

    Consider this…every home built will most likely have 2 automobiles. That means 9 mile Rd will be bumper to bumper and then turn onto Pine Forest Rd. Bottle neck at
    I-10, worse than it is now! Why is there only one lane to travel from interstate to 9 Mile Rd. Somebody needs to study this! They always build and then go oops, we have a problem with traffic!

  3. dave lamb on March 7th, 2023 10:52 pm

    i was in Escambia County last few weeks. I was driving up HI way 99 and 97A. I drove past the new 4H complex and had tears for such a skimpy site. 4H had a lot more in the now Navy Federal site. Merwyn Buerneau {sp}would not be real happy with your skimpy attempt to please 4 H families i am proud that it is on land that a strong supporter of 4 H once farmed. I also noted that one can drive on the mentioned roads only to see little to no signs to inform drivers of where the roads are leading us. Some of the street signs are so faded that one has to stop and actually walk up to them to read them. one is Lamb Lane. I drove past it 4 times to find it. you need to spend more on infostructure and less on padding the pockets of sub par contractors.

  4. Charlie on March 7th, 2023 12:09 am

    Sounds to me that Breland, even if less money offered, has the best reputation (which counts a whole lot), and is willing to go by the Master Plan, which counts a whole lot more, and doesn’t involve another unknown party to do part of “their Horton plan”. Another factor is that some comments have mentioned from experience that Horton homes are lacking in quality promised but not delivered. Whomever did the drawing at the top, must be dreaming, as I doubt that would all fit in the OLF 8 site as big as it is, & doesn’t even look like it includes any houses, but maybe a lot of apartment buildings & parking spaces?

  5. Not for us on March 6th, 2023 10:29 pm

    Folks on this end of Pensacola better start selling off their homes soon. If they bring in this many homes it will surely drive home prices straight to the gutter. Add to that if it’s “affordable” housing(meaning cheap and/section 8) the crime rate will rise and schools will be an impossible thing to maintain and even think about quality of education. Time to look at moving somewhere that development without supporting roles from infrastructure are not a thought. The quaint life of some of these rural areas is going to be a thing of the past.

  6. camper on March 6th, 2023 9:07 pm

    Yea, make it affordable, flexible housing. @ 8 RVs/acre, that’s about a 4000 site RV Park.

  7. Alex on March 6th, 2023 9:06 pm

    @BeachBoy… The County already owns the land, developers want to buy it. Educate yourself.

  8. Beach Boy on March 6th, 2023 6:49 pm

    I would vote NO for the county to purchase this land. You can bet they will raise our property tax even more so they can pay for it. Just like the School Board raised the millage rate in order to hire more teachers and give School Board employees a raise. I am a senior adult living on a fixed income! How do they expect me to pay inflation rates when we don’t get inflation rate increase????? Most everyone that works at least gets a raise and bonuses. I’m not that lucky.

  9. Steve on March 6th, 2023 4:45 pm

    Pothole Millview just got a new subdivision ; infrastructure? .

  10. J.Larry Seale on March 6th, 2023 2:07 pm

    can you guess the county would
    do with all that money………
    Santa Rosa, is trying to do the same
    thing. Bet, they would put the land to good use…..

  11. Anne on March 6th, 2023 1:51 pm

    While we should always Hope for the Best, the Experiences in Escambia County have often been that what looks great for We the Taxpayers somehow evolves to become something other than “As Advertised”….
    Listening to the BoCC banter back and forth on the sale of OLF-8 is like watching a 4-hour long tennis match.
    Our concern is the BoCC will be patting themselves on the back and complementing each other they’ll be too exhausted to sign the final papers of sale.
    PLEASE….BoCC this time FOCUS on the task and do Right.

  12. Steve on March 6th, 2023 12:16 pm

    Maybe “Escambia” should consider some infrastructure now .

  13. Chuck on March 6th, 2023 9:55 am

    I also feel like the Town Center idea will eventually lead to Beluah incorporating. Because I’ve seen other town centers happen and literally soon after that area incorporates itself into a town. Obviously, hence the name than you have higher taxes. Just focus on affordable apts, duplexes and clean jobs no dirty industrial. We already have a mall no need to compete with that and trade one eyesore for another.

  14. Everlyn Peasant on March 6th, 2023 9:49 am

    Who ever wins the Bid consider building Affordable housing because it’s very bad here in Pensacola People are working 2 jobs just to stay in their homes and the elderly at 70yrs + are coming out of Retirement just to do basic living with all the land here why must people live in tents or in the woods it’s a SHAME We can house people in a disaster I remember Hurricane Sally We found land for that But not for every day living I’m no politician but I do know this is So very wrong And Our Official here doesn’t Care about our community I haven’t heard anything thing from anyone but When it’s time to be elected they will kiss babies and shake hands and hold up signs with empty promises

  15. Chuck on March 6th, 2023 9:46 am

    First thing: Tinpan I have to correct you. The county doesn’t have to pay squat. The 14.2 million for infrastructure comes out of the oil fund, as long as the developer sticks to the master plan agreed upon. If the developer like DR decides not too than the developer has to pay 14.2 million for the infrastructure not the county. NOW YOU KNOW —TIN PAN! ——–As for the county, we’ll it’s really a no brainer you sell it Breland who will stick with the master plan. If you go DR who wants to do there own you will end up with 5k home subdivision. — As for the ones moaning about growth we’ll I hear you the road system is inadequate across all of Pensacola. I take 9 mile if that road was placed in Central Florida it would be 6 lanes now. Blue Angel should have been 4 laned 20 years ago. Mobile HWY needs to be 4 laned to 90. I could keep going.

    Finally : CAN WE GET A COSTCO!! Come on now you have a metro area of 500k. So there better be one going in there.

  16. Dave Stark on March 6th, 2023 7:14 am

    D.R. Horton should be a non-starter if they are going to disregard the Master plan that has been worked on and agreed upon by us.

  17. Tinpan on March 6th, 2023 6:51 am

    These offers are are not as good as they sound. The county must pay for the infrastructure with 14.2 million from the trillium fund. 38million minus 14.2 equals 23.8. Doesn’t sound so good now. The 14.2 should be for other worthwhile projects. The infrastructure money should be included in any story about this project. The developers should pay for the infrastructure .

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News