Buyer snaps up 6,000-acre cattle ranch in Osceola

Vision for land includes up to 17K housing units

Heirs of late Osceola cattle rancher Henry O. Partin have found a buyer for their entire 5,977-acre Green Island Ranch along Lake Tohopekaliga in Osceola County, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

“We are under contract at this time,” said Dusty Calderon “We had a lot of interest in the property, and we settled on what we felt was the best buyer. They’re going through their due diligence process.”

The sprawling ranch has entitlements through Osceola County’s comprehensive plan for up to 17,000 residential units and millions of square feet for office, industrial and commercial space. The development order even calls for a regional mall, a research park and a marina on Lake Toho.

The project will take decades to complete.

Calderon joined SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate and teamed up with land specialist Dean Saunders in March to list the property that had been in his family for 100 years for $140 million. The campaign reached a global audience and generated about a dozen offers, half of which were at or above the asking price.

But the winning bid came from a longtime family friend who happens to live right across from the ranch.

Reed Berlinsky, president of St. Cloud’s Gentry Land Company, told GrowthSpotter he is partnering with Wheelock Street Capital to buy the ranch and bring the county’s vision of a mixed-use community to fruition. They expect to close by the end of the year.

Berlinsky said they were attracted to the Green Island Ranch because they felt the market along Lake Toho had matured and the timing was right. “These projects have been on the board for a long time, and the market has grown into them. It’s a great legacy project owned by a great family, and the county has teed it up. They’ve done a great job with the conceptual master plan.”