Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh was my guest on WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” this morning. He sees D.R. Horton’s offer of $33 million for OLF-8 has an opportunity for the county, especially if the homebuilder honors the OLF-8 Master Plan and the grant agreement the county has with Triumph Gulf Coast. (For more background, read Breaking: Builder offers $33 million for OLF-8.)
“If we could wave a magic wand, if we gave them 12 months, if they agreed and we came to an agreement, and at the end of a 12-month period or sooner we were able to close this transaction, that would be nearly a $20 million win for the taxpayers. We’ve got about $18 million into the property, we recouped $4.2 when we sold 96 acres to Navy Federal a couple years back, so we’re upside down $13.8. You take $13.8 from $33 and you can do the easy math, and that would be a windfall.”
He continued, “It will be money that we could use in every corner of this county, bridges, roads, infrastructure, drainage. It could benefit the entire county. It could be transformational. That’s $6.5 million per district. We can do so many projects with that”
The commissioner added, “There are so many projects on the books that are awaiting funding sources. This could be the transformational change that allows us to complete those projects. That’s why I’m so positive on it. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do to get there, but if we’re able to do it, it would be a huge win, and it would change the paradigm.”
