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JULIE HAUSERMANChange is coming for little Carrabelle after developer St. Joe Co. successfully bids for 48 acres of waterfront land.
TALLAHASSEE - St. Joe Co., which is developing vast tracts in North Florida, was the only bidder Tuesday for a valuable piece of public waterfront that the state put up for auction.
The state Department of Environmental Protection put the 48-acre parcel up for a minimum bid of $6.7-million, saying it wasn't needed for conservation. St. Joe submitted a sealed bid of $6.8-million, said Kathalyn Gaither, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
St. Joe officials did not return phone calls seeking comment on the company's plans for the land, which has been publicly owned or 18 years. Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet will likely approve the sale in September, Gaither said.
The sale could change forever the small working harbor in Carrabelle, which has seen commercial fishing dwindle and land values soar. The town, about an hour's drive south of Tallahassee, sits in the middle of the region that St. Joe is trying to market as "Florida's Great Northwest."
The land St. Joe will buy sits in the middle of the harbor, and the state once envisioned a seafood processing plant there to help struggling commercial fishermen. The state leased the land to locals, but the seafood plant was never built. Now, the land will likely be home to a marina or high-end waterfront residences.
St. Joe has been looking for a place to build a marina in the area to serve two of its new developments, one in Tallahassee and one on the coast. The company planned to build a coastal marina in nearby Franklin County, but backed off after local and state officials said it could pollute the water near a Florida State University marine research facility.
Carrabelle has one of the few deep ports in the area, and is a coveted launching point for gulf fishermen. Until now, it's been a sleepy village filled with shrimp boats.
The state got the land years ago in a trade, but recently decided it was surplus.
Locals worry the sale could change a way of life. Carrabelle's City Council last summer decided to allow case-by-case exceptions to a three-story height limit that has been in place in the area for generations.
Carrabelle could now be home to the first high-rises on this part of the coast. Some citizens are circulating petitions to rescind the city council vote and let people vote on a new building-height limit.