Who owns the most land in Manatee County? The list includes farms, developers and FPL

James A. Jones Jr.
·6 min read
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Among the largest nongovernmental property owners in Manatee County are a phosphate mining operation, an electric utility, several industrial-scale farmers, a couple of development companies and the founder of a multilevel marketing company.

At the top of the list is Mosaic Fertilizer LLC, with 33,270.81 acres, according to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s website.

Phosphate companies have been excavating in northeast Manatee County since the 1960s, and periodically return to the Manatee County Commission for five-year extensions of their permit.

Mosaic is due to renew its permits this year, confirmed Jackie Barron, the company’s public affairs manager.

Not all of Mosaic’s holdings are being actively mined. The company has 23,913 acres zoned for mining, and of that, 18,345 acres have already been mined or disturbed, Barron said.

Mosaic has also set aside, or preserved 3,907 acres, and reclaimed 7,298 acres, she said.

Mosaic added nearly 800 acres to its holdings, compared to what the property appraiser webpage reported for the company in 2022.

A Manatee County graphic shows the extent of Mosaic holdings in tan.
A Manatee County graphic shows the extent of Mosaic holdings in tan.

The rest of the top 10 list includes:

▪ 2. John Falkner LLC with 21,758.74 acres. Falkner, who grows tomatoes and cucumbers — lots of cucumbers, thus his nickname, the “pickle king,” also owns Kibler Agriculture Corporation with 1,062.87 acres.

In 2002, the Chicago Pickle Company opened a plant north of Palmetto near Sysco, a wholesale food distributor to restaurants, to take advantage of the plentiful cucumber supply.

A smart businessman, Falkner in 2002 bought the 940-acre Harrison Ranch property on U.S. 301 North and Erie Road for $8 million and sold it for $16 million about 15 months later to Pulte Home Corp.

Falkner is also well aware that there is a building boom underway in Manatee County. In 2021, his Rye Ranch LLC filed a rezoning application to develop a 3,500-unit residential development at 17855 County Road 675. Also proposed there are 300,000 square feet of non-residential development and 20,000 square feet of public-use facilities.

▪ 3. Florida Power and Light Company is Manatee County’s third-largest property owner with 15,015.51 acres, up from 13,768 acres in 2022. FPL operates or is planning to operate six solar energy plants in Manatee County, in addition to its fossil fuel-fired power plant in Parrish.

In this file photo, Florida Power and Light install seventy five percent of the solar panels planned for the FPL Solar Energy Center in Parrish.
In this file photo, Florida Power and Light install seventy five percent of the solar panels planned for the FPL Solar Energy Center in Parrish.

▪ 4. Team Pentecost LLC with 6,772 acres has the fourth largest property holdings in Manatee County. Owner Mark Pentecost is the founder of a multilevel marketing company, It Works!, based in Palmetto.

▪ 5. McClure Properties Ltd. ranks as the county’s fifth largest property owner with 6,516.1 acres. In 2022, McClure was listed as having 7,491.87 acres. McClure has been farming in Manatee County for more than 50 years. In 2021, the company sought rezoning for acreage between Buckeye Road and Moccasin Wallow Road that would allow 1,900 residential units and 122,000 square feet of nonresidential use.

McClure Properties is seeking a rezone to allow a mixed-use development at 10403 Buckeye Road, Parrish, for 1,900 residential units and 122,600 square feet of non-residential uses. File photo 2021
McClure Properties is seeking a rezone to allow a mixed-use development at 10403 Buckeye Road, Parrish, for 1,900 residential units and 122,600 square feet of non-residential uses. File photo 2021

▪ 6. L3 Partnership with 5,024 acres comes in sixth on the largest landowner list. Gamble Creek Village has been proposed for this property two miles east of Manatee County’s future development line, across State Road 62 from FPL’s Parrish Power Plant.

As proposed, Gamble Creek Village would eventually have about 7,200 homes and as many as 13,500 residents.

▪ 7. Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, developer of Lakewood Ranch, is the seventh largest property owner in Manatee County with 4,793 acres. SMR has several entities listed on the property appraiser’s webpage that we added to get this total: SMR Taylor Ranch LLC with 2,367 acres, Lakewood Ranch Stewardship District with 1,384 acres and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch with 1,042 acres.

▪ 8. Jones Potato Farm Inc., recognized nationally and statewide for progressive resource management, grows potatoes, green beans and other produce on 4,651 acres. The company is also seeking to to move into the development sphere with plans for 1,833 homes and 300,000 square feet of nonresidential space on 635 acres.

Blackbeard’s Ranch LLC ranks ninth among Manatee County property owners with 4,468 acres.
Blackbeard’s Ranch LLC ranks ninth among Manatee County property owners with 4,468 acres.

▪ 9. Blackbeard’s Ranch LLC ranks ninth among Manatee County property owners with 4,468 acres. Michael Galinski, founder and owner of St. Petersburg-based multinational America II Inc., paid $13 million in 2014 for the property, located in the Clay Gully, Sugarbowl and Coker Gully Road area.

In 2018, the U.S. government paid about $4 million for a conservation easement for 1,481.6 acres there. The easement allows the federal government to restore the property to protect area waterways and provide a buffer to Myakka River State Park.

▪ 10. WFA Land Co, Inc. has 3,787 acres, primarily in Duette and Myakka City. The company is headquartered in Immokalee.

Not making the top 10, but making news recently were Ag-Mart Produce Inc. with 2,254 acres, Detwiler Farms LLC with 1,939 acres and East River Ranch 1400 LLC with 1,367.40 acres.

Ag Mart

Ag Mart Produce notified state officials in July that it will be conducting a mass layoff of employees at its Plant City office/warehouse and at its farms in Myakka City and Duette, citing its inability to compete with submarket pricing of imported produce.

The company grows grape tomatoes under the brand name Santa Sweets. About 120 workers are affected, Ag Mart Produce said in a letter to the Florida Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Detwiler’s Farm Market

The Detwiler’s Farm Market family signed a lease for 50,000 square feet of anchor space in Marketplace West in the 3500 block of 53rd Avenue West, earlier this year.

The Marketplace West will be renamed Detwiler’s Marketplace. The planned store will be Detwiler’s second in Manatee County and the sixth overall, ranging from Palmetto in the north to Venice in the south.

East River Ranch

East River Ranch is planned for 5,378 homes, a charter school and a fire station just south of State Road 64 and west of County Road 675.

Portions of East River Ranch, being developed by Carlos Beruff, border County Road 675.

Methodology

The landowners mentioned in this story were taken from the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s webpage. The land-owning entities are not always consolidated by owner.

In several instances, the Bradenton Herald tallied the holdings when it appeared two or more listings in the top 50 had the same owner. For example: Team Pentecost had holdings of 5,264 acres and 1,508 that we added to arrive at a total of 6,772 acres.

The property appraiser offers this caveat: “This information was compiled using exact owner name matches. The owner names in our database were transcribed from property deeds recorded with the Clerk of Circuit Court. The spelling of an owner’s name may differ slightly from deed to deed. In addition to typographical errors, a middle initial may have been recorded on one deed and not on another. The probability of this occurring increases with companies as punctuation marks (dashes, commas, etc.) and/or subsidiary names are sometimes used.”