Pinnacle Business Management (Prev SRCI)

[Dancing in the dark]

Margueritte Thurston, the grove's owner until her death at age 92 in 1998, dismissed developers' offers for years. But her heirs were forced to sell the land to pay estate taxes. Gemm Development Corp. paid $3.8-million, or $110,000 an acre, for the property, which no longer was an active citrus grove.

Developer Bruce Hall bought the property from Gemm last month (january '01) for $5.95-million. Hall said he knows his product is in high demand. "There are a lot of people having to drive to Tampa or Sarasota to buy land because there is nothing left," he said