QuotePrice tag was more than three times what authority considered
By DAVID HUNT, The Times-Union
A big price tag might end the big plans Jacksonville Port Authority had for a 60-acre plot north of Talleyrand Marine Terminal.
Maybe it could be a coal terminal, generating enough revenue to pay for a massive dredging project. Maybe it could be a new container terminal for Talleyrand mainstay Hamburg Sud.
But at $67.4 million, the price tag might make both options impossible.
Last week, a jury determined that's what the authority would have to pay to acquire the land from Ft. Myers-based Keystone Coal Co. Authority officials say the price is too high and they might have to pass.
In 2006, a separate court proceeding allowed the authority to take the 60 acres through eminent domain. Over the past two weeks, jurors have reviewed evidence and listened to arguments to determine compensation.
The process is known as a "slow take," under which the authority can pay the price or walk away. Authority officials have 20 days to make a decision.
Executive Director Rick Ferrin said he was surprised at the verdict, considering appraisals he'd commissioned on the property came in under $20 million - and Keystone had paid only $8 million for the property about three years ago.
"We're examining our options," Ferrin said.
Keystone lawyer Andrew Brigham said the difference in price happened because his client, Keystone President Tom Scholl, saw value in the land that competitors did not. He said kilns already standing on the property could have been used to process limestone in addition to Scholl's coal business.
"It's like if you went to a garage sale and found a painting for $10 then realized it was a Picasso," Brigham said. "If the city wanted to take it from you to put it in a gallery, you wouldn't just let it go for $10."
The jury's valuation ruling may have ended a dispute over the land, which became bitter as Scholl discovered that authority officials planned to force out his coal operation to set up one of their own.
Ferrin said a coal terminal might have earned the authority millions annually, money that could be put toward a project to deepen the shipping channel. But last year, Gov. Charlie Crist set limitations on the amount of energy the state should be getting from coal in the future. That in mind, Ferrin said a coal terminal didn't seem as wise of a use for the property.
Brigham said he was satisfied that the jury protected Scholl's business interests, regardless of whether the authority moves forward with the purchase.
Carol Saviak, executive director for the Orlando-based Coalition of Property Rights, said the verdict is one of the largest she's seen in Florida. And that's a victory for property owners.
"I think it sends a clear message that while government in Florida can still take property, the juries will watch details very, very closely," she said.Quote
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050608/bus_275704265.shtml
QuotePrice tag was more than three times what authority considered
By DAVID HUNT, The Times-Union
A big price tag might end the big plans Jacksonville Port Authority had for a 60-acre plot north of Talleyrand Marine Terminal.
Maybe it could be a coal terminal, generating enough revenue to pay for a massive dredging project. Maybe it could be a new container terminal for Talleyrand mainstay Hamburg Sud.
But at $67.4 million, the price tag might make both options impossible.
I thought this site was supposed to be for the new hanjin terminal?
you have to wonder what the jury was smoking... yeah...you bought it a year before the real estate collapse started for $8 mil...on year in and BOOM...the bottom falls out of real estate...it still falls today. but not THIS property...it has exploded up to $67 mil.
???
Its very well possible Keystone bought the property well below market value, similar to Sleiman's deal with the Landing.
the Landing was only "below market" because of the shape that it was in, as i remember. Sleiman then had to put large chunks of his own $$ to fix it up back to what it is today (according to him)...now, about this property i have no clue...but even if it WAS bought below market value, there had to have been some kind of fool out there to let it go for 5-10 million (at least) less than what its true value was.
The same goes for the Keystone property. When Keystone purchased it, it had a huge vacant decaying paper mill sitting on it. Since then, most of that facility has been demolished, except for the portions that still had value in being reused, something the original owner either overlooked or cared less about. Another factor in the jury's decision had to do with JaxPort attempting to take something from someone who had invested in this property to run a profitable business. So the price could have been just as much about sending a message, as it was about the actual value of the property. Who knows for sure? In any event, it looks like JaxPort's eminent domain acquisition is off.
Jury squelches port authority acquisition
http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2008/05/12/story3.html
No, the Keystone property is in the Talleyrand area - hanjin is supposed to be between the zoo and dames point - near the BP tank farm
QuotePort Authority contesting eminent domain verdict
Jacksonville Port Authority is contesting a jury verdict that would have the port paying more than $67 million for a piece of property it acquired through eminent domain.
Port officials filed paperwork this week asking for a new trial.....
Keystone’s lawyer Andrew Brigham said he will ask the court to allow the valuation verdict to stand.
“The port was given plenty of opportunities to object,†Brigham said. “They can’t just wait to see the verdict and ask for a new one.â€
http://news.jacksonville.com/justin/2008/05/14/port-authority-contesting-eminent-domain-verdict/
QuotePort Authority drops land deal
The 60 acres were triple the price expected
By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union
The Jacksonville Port Authority walked away Monday from seizing 60 acres of land that it has been litigating over for two years.
After a jury decided in May that the plot north of Talleyrand Marine Terminal owned by Keystone Coal was worth $67.4 million - three times what the port expected - going through the rest of the eminent domain proceedings and buying the land wouldn't make sense, the authority's board decided Monday.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/072908/bus_310820011.shtml
Keystone Coal officially can suck it. They're not utilizing the land at all, they should be fined per day, until something is done with the site. Just my opinion.
They couldn't utitlize the land because the port has been attempting to take it for the past two years. Just as soon as they purchased the property, the port authority filed for eminent domain. If JaxPort left them alone, for all we know, they're coal terminal could be operating by now.
So will this mean we sit and wait another 5 years? Doesn't the Port know that COLOMBIAN COAL smells sweet? Damn, I might even get it gift wrapped for them if they want! VIVA El Ferrocarril Atlantico!
OCKLAWAHA
Don't know what it means yet, other Keystone will keep the old mill site. If Keystone develops it, it will be a coal terminal. If the port took it over, it was going to be converted into a container terminal.
So the score now stands at ATLANTICO - 1, PORT - 0
OCKLAWAHA