Babcock Ranch developer Syd Kitson named TIME's Dreamer of the Year
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Syd Kitson dreams big — 18,000 acres and counting big, to be exact.
Babcock Ranch — the first solar-powered town in the U.S., located in southern Charlotte and northern Lee Counties — was Kitson’s brainchild, fueled by a reverence for nature and a workhorse spirit that led him all the way to the NFL. The community includes 19,500 homes, 6 million square feet of commercial space and half the total acreage reserved for green space — all powered by an 870-acre solar farm.
It was a dream some deemed too big, but almost two decades since Kitson first proposed Babcock Ranch he has attracted national attention for the achievement, with TIME naming him Dreamer of the Year for his continuing work in sustainable development.
More: Experienced developer starts work on lower-cost housing in Sarasota-Manatee
While he’s proud of the personal achievement, Kitson said the honor means more than just a plaque on his mantle.
“It really is a recognition for the entire organization and also for the people who live at Babcock Ranch,” Kitson said. “TIME Magazine is focusing on something so important and shining a light on sustainability and resiliency and innovation.”
The cause — climate resilience, renewable energy and a more eco-friendly path toward development — is something Kitson has championed for most of his life. He fell in love with nature after spending weeks at a time hiking the Adirondacks and Appalachians and when he ventured into real estate after four years as a guard for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, he took that love to Florida with him.
The result was Kitson and Partners: a real estate company founded in 1992 with a focus on sustainable residential and commercial developments. The company has since constructed communities across the south and central parts of the state — including the Talis Park community in Naples, Ibid Golf and Country Club in West Palm and Babcock Ranch, which broke ground in 2015 and is regarded as the company’s marquee achievement.
It’s a project made possible by Florida’s tropical climate and sunshine, which is what first drew Kitson to Florida in 1995. He was immediately struck by a statewide dedication to sustainability and water preservation — something he said he didn’t find anywhere else.
“I just came down here, and it felt so good,” Kitson said. “The opportunities to do something like a Babcock Ranch were here.”
Inside Florida Politics: Year in Review - DeSantis struggles, Trump rises, GOP dominates
Faced with the often adversarial relationship between developers and the land they build on, Kitson said he was inspired to take a different approach. Kitson and Partners originally purchased a 91,000-acre plot in 2006 and sold 73,000 of those acres to the state for what would become part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Babcock Ranch, he said, was meant to show that growth and sustainability could work hand-in-hand. The community proved that partnership was possible after it survived Hurricane Ian mostly unscathed — a rarity among the wreckage seen in most of the surrounding communities — thanks to its reliance on solar power, ample stormwater drains, and other eco-friendly designs.
“It can be done the right way,” he said. “Working with nature, being sustainable, doing something today that you know is going to benefit future generations.”
Conventional development techniques would’ve made for an easier development process, but Kitson embraced the challenge. As climate change continues to persist, Kitson said the sustainable design, though admittedly more complicated to execute, ensures longevity and stability in a state increasingly at odds with severe weather.
Babcock Ranch is the first of its kind, but Kitson is hopeful it won’t be the last. He hopes the community’s success — and the new national recognition —will inspire other developers to follow in its footsteps.
“It’s those lessons that we’ve been learning that I hope other people will copy and even do better,” Kitson said. “That’s really the greatest form of flattery, when somebody takes your playbook and they not only copy it but they improve on it.”
Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Babcock Ranch developer Syd Kitson named TIME's Dreamer of the Year
