Escambia’s Board of County commissioners voted to start negotiations with Beulah Town Center LLC, for the purchase of county owned land in Beulah known as Navy Outlying Field 8, or OLF 8.
The decision came after county leaders discussed the offer with developer and Beulah Town Center’s managing partner Fred Hemmer during their morning and evening meetings, Thursday.
Commissioners also agreed to negotiate with the goal of having a contract in place with terms acceptable to the board by the end of March.
Beulah Town Center is offering $20 million for 290 acres of the more than 530-acre property. Escambia County is going to retain the remaining 250 acres for job creation.
The proposal includes a town center with retail, residential and greenspace. There are no single-family homes in the residential portion, but the plan includes townhomes, apartments or mixed-used buildings for retail use below and residential use above.
Beulah Town Center recently made several revisions to the original offer including reducing the due diligence time from 12 months to 10, increasing the deposit from $100,000 to $150,000, and removing parcel three from the options.