PCC Seeks Right Deal For Campus Property

LAKELAND | A dispute over land costs has put Polk Community College's first choice for a permanent northeast Polk campus on hold.

PCC and Cassidy Homes are far apart on a price for the college's preferred site - about 30 acres Cassidy owns across U.S. 27 from Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center.

So much so, the college is looking aggressively at other tracts of land. "Right now, it looks like the gap is too great to close," said Don Wilson, lawyer for the PCC Board of Trustees.

"Maybe something (else) is available we didn't think would be possible before," he told the trustees Monday.

The highest appraisal on the Cassidy land is $41,000 per acre, he said, but Cassidy was asking for $90,000 per acre.

The company might accept $75,000 an acre, PCC President Eileen Holden told the board, but she isn't prepared to ask to spend that much more than the highest appraised amount.

"We need to get the best deal at what the market is today," Holden said.

"At the very least, we have the obligation to explore," Wilson said.

The land in contention, about four miles south of Interstate 4 and about 2,800 feet east of U.S. 27, is part of a 48.7-acre working citrus grove between Florida Development Road on the north and Holly Hill Fruit Road on the south. PCC trustees authorized Holden and Wilson on March 24 to start negotiating with Cassidy.

Another site considered at their March meeting wasn't suitable because not enough land was available, Facilities Director George Urbano said Monday. The owner of that smaller property, Civix, has given PCC information about another possible site, however.

Part of the negotiation problem may be that Cassidy Homes, or any other seller, knows up-front that the college has $2.7 million it could spend. The state earmarked that money for a northeast campus, so it can't be spent on salaries or on other PCC sites.

That doesn't mean all of it must be spent on purchasing land. If PCC were to get 30 acres of land at $41,000 an acre, for example, that would come to a little more than $1.2 million. PCC could use its remaining money for other costs of setting up a campus there, Vice President Peter Elliott said.

The breakdown in negotiations has left PCC open to offers from other potential sellers, which Holden said is happening on a regular basis.

"I get a call a week and George (Urbano) jumps in the car and goes out to look at it," she said.

PCC is working with county officials in finding out about land that could be available in the area where it wants to build.

The community college now provides some college classes at Ridge Community High School in northeast Polk. Extensive growth in that area makes having a campus there increasingly important to college officials.

[ Robin Williams Adams can be reached at robin.adams@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. Read her blog at robinsrx.theledger.com. ]