Eastern Lake beachfront property was appraised at $3M in 2018. Why is it $18M now?
SEAGROVE BEACH — Three years ago, two companies contracted by Walton County to appraise a 3-acre beachfront property on San Roy Road returned with estimated values of $3 million and $4 million.
New appraisals are being conducted today as the county mulls spending $18 million to buy the land with an eye toward conserving its unique environmental features and providing nearly 300 feet of public beach in an area where that has become increasingly rare.
County Purchasing Director James Walters said he solicited quotations from two companies. One value estimate has been returned, and he said he expects the second one to arrive soon.
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The appraisals cannot be made public until 48 hours prior to their being brought before the Board of County Commissioners for consideration, Walters said. The county will work with a number calculated by averaging the two estimates.
Walton County has negotiated before with 187 San Roy Beach Holdings LLC and its managing partner, Peter Russell, for the large beach parcel. The 2018 appraisal conducted by Humphrey and Associates that valued the property at $4 million stated the work had been done "for reference in acquisition negotiations."
This year, however, the negotiations hold a little more urgency. Russell wants to close whatever deal is done by Dec. 31 for tax reasons.
Based on public comment at an Oct. 26 County commission meeting, residents in the Seagrove Beach area favor the purchase of the property. The parcel lies in the outfall of Eastern Lake, one of 15 rare coastal dune lakes found in the county and among those considered imperiled by development along County Road 30A.
But elected officials have balked at the price tag.
Russell has said he holds a current appraisal for the property that values it at $18 million. Jim Bagby, a former Walton County Tourist Development Council director, said he believed an appraisal would not come in higher than $7 million.
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Bagby has suggested to commissioners that if Russell won't come down on his price based on what the county appraisals say, that the governing board move forward with a legal taking through eminent domain.
If the county were to have taken that route in 2018, it would have based its estimate of the property's worth on the average of the $3 million appraisal it received from Teel and Waters and the $4 million it got from Humphrey and Associates.
At 130% of the average between the two estimates, the county would have offered an eminent domain price of $4.55 million..
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: $18 million Eastern Lake property appraised at $4 million in 2018
