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The Davis family and The PARC Group sold about 3,000 of acres of undeveloped land in Green Cove Springs on Dec. 16 for $85 million.

The land, known as Governors Park, previously was part of the Gustafson family ranch. It is west of U.S. 17 and north and south of the First Coast Expressway in Clay County.

It had been considered for a master-planned development of up to 4,000 single-family homes.

The property was sold through GCSD LLC and GCSE LLC. The buyer was Westport Capital Partners of Stamford, Connecticut, through Governors Park Property Holdings LLC.

According to its website, Westport Capital Partners and its affiliates manage about $3.8 billion of assets on behalf of U.S. and foreign investors.

The Davis family, founders of the Winn-Dixie grocery chain, bought the land in 2019 for at least $13.3 million for the bulk of the property according to deeds. That includes at least $12.7 million for about 2,700 acres.

The Davis family said in a Dec. 19 news release they sold the property to the developer, who has more immediate plans for the property.

“Our focus will remain on our current land holdings while we continue to pursue other land opportunities in Northeast Florida,” said Jed Davis, president and CEO of DDI, Inc., a Davis family company.

The PARC Group is the master developer of Nocatee and eTown, both built on land owned by the Davis family.

“Clay County’s market fundamentals are incredibly positive, and we remain interested in the area for future development,” said Roger O’Steen, chairman of The PARC Group.

“We look forward to building upon our success with Nocatee and eTown in developing lifestyle-focused master-planned communities.”

The property is known as Governors Park, the name of its Development of Regional Impact. 

A 2019 Governors Park Planned Unit Development document described it as a mixed-use, master-planned community on 3,112 acres around the future interchange of the First Coast Expressway and the Green Cove Springs Bypass.

The Daily Record reported in August 2019 that residential use will account for the largest space, at 1,394 acres; followed by 800 acres for open space; 214 acres for golf course use; and the rest for light industrial; commercial; office; hotel use; and parks.

The PUD showed up to 4,000 single-family homes, 2,000 multifamily units, 840,000 square feet of commercial space, 700,000 square feet of office space, 400 hotel rooms and 2 million square feet of industrial space.