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Florida Cabinet Approves $83.3 Million Purchase of Destin Waterfront for Public Park

Critics question the $20 million-per-acre deal steered by budget language for land outside the state’s conservation priority list.

Henderson Beach State Park, Destin, Florida

Overview

  • The four-acre site will be overseen as a public park by Okaloosa County after approval by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet.
  • The sellers are Pointe Mezzanine LLC and Pointe Resort LLC, entities registered to Robert (Rodney) Guidry, a donor whose businesses have contributed to local and state political committees.
  • Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia asked to be recorded as a no on the Destin item even as the bundled slate of land deals was adopted.
  • Lawmakers had inserted language in the state budget directing the purchase without a specified price, and the property was not on the Florida Forever priority list.
  • Funding will come largely from state conservation programs, with Okaloosa County pledging $5 million, as the Cabinet also named Bradley Perry director of state lands and backed other contested actions including a plan to hand over downtown Miami land to a Trump nonprofit for a presidential library.