Developer sets aside Fla. land for eagles, earns environmentalists’ praise

Developer sets aside Fla. land for eagles, earns environmentalists’ praise

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Bobby Ginn gave up the nicest lots in his luxury golf course community to a couple that just flew in and made themselves at home.

Three years later, Ginn is happy with the deal. So, apparently, are the bald eagles nesting with a multimillion-dollar view: They recently had babies.

Some developers would have seen an obstacle in the eagles, sitting in a dead pine tree overlooking a lake and surrounded by acres of nothing but nature. Ginn saw an opportunity not just to protect the environment in one of his latest multimillion-dollar ventures, but to make the eagles a selling point.

“For me, it’s as big an amenity as golf or tennis or a pool,” he said. “People want to see and enjoy wildlife and they should be able to do it from home.”

Ginn set aside about 120 acres — up to $40 million worth of home sites — in his Tesoro community in Port St. Lucie, about 115 miles north of Miami.

The property, next to a lake surrounded by trees and full of fish and wading birds, was to have been the most expensive property and the only waterfront in a neighborhood where houses are selling for up to $5 million.

The land is now preserved as nature in perpetuity as a conservation easement donated by Ginn and controlled by Audubon of Florida. Ginn has partnered with the group to protect the eagles, and is paying for outreach and monitoring programs out of his own pocket.