THE TIMEKEEPER CHRONICLES

Good morning world. Here's some shocking news for you Floridians. I was breezing through some articles this morning, and much to my disgust, I read about another developement to be built - a dude with tons of money and nothing else to do - in an area that you would figure would pretty much be left alone. BUT, no. Not in this state. Really. You don't have to go far to see that Florida is quickly becoming over-built, with new develpements on every corner it seems. I feel bad for those cattlemen. (Geez, I didn't even know we still did that stuff here :-0) I guess I should be happy that the guy is at least keeping the land in a natural condition, but it's just the point of it all. Anyway, read if ya want.

Developer sees Destiny in Fla. frontier
By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 21, 12:23 PM ET

YEEHAW JUNCTION, Fla. - This is about as close to nowhere as it gets in quickly sprawling Florida. Just off Florida's Turnpike, Yeehaw Junction consists of two gas stations, two shops hawking theme park tickets, a hotel so sleepy roosters run free and tens of miles between here and civilization. But where you see nowhere, Anthony Pugliese III sees Destiny.
That's the name of the new city the South Florida developer is planning, where overgrown brush and cattle pasture now spread wide. Within 25 years, he and billionaire partner and Subway founder Fred DeLuca envision a biotechnology hub, 40 miles of navigable lakes, a sustainable energy source and some 150,000 people.
Pugliese says it will be Florida's first eco-sustainable city, and has secured 41,000 barren acres about 75 miles south of Orlando on which to build it. The plan still requires government approval and it would be years before ground is broken, but the state's population grows by about 300,000 people every year so there could be a market.
"What we're really trying to do is create a model city," Pugliese says, with much less bravado than it sounds. "Rather than just going out here, digging a bunch of holes in the ground and putting a bunch of buildings on there for retirees, we basically want to create a city that is environmentally sensitive to its surroundings. We will be basically keeping about half the property as natural."
The land sits at the nexus of three major thoroughfares, making it ideal for a distribution center and manufacturing plants that could employ some of Destiny's work force.
But as it sits now, the most remarkable thing about the property is that there's nothing remarkable about it. Decades ago Yeehaw Junction was a place for range-minding cowboys to dine, drink and dance. It has evolved into an inside joke for Floridians, who are entreated by dozens of highway billboards counting down the distance every few miles, and promised a free lottery ticket with purchase of theme park packages at the timeshare-pushing clearinghouses.
Pugliese said his wife was incredulous when he made the deal to purchase the initial 27,400 acres at about $5,000 an acre last year — a $137 million investment. She joked that she wouldn't even stop for gas there.
"Everybody's been through, but very few people have been to, Yeehaw Junction," says Dan Shalloway, a Palm Beach County resident who owns a ranch there.
The cattlemen who still make their living the Old Florida way say they are disappointed, but not surprised, that change is on the horizon.
Varley Grantham, who runs Triple S Cattle Co., said it probably won't be long before there's a solid belt of houses and cities stretching from St. Petersburg on the Gulf to Vero Beach on the Atlantic.
"I think there are a lot of issues, but I think it's inevitable that you're going to have developments like Destiny," Grantham says.
So far Grantham has resisted developers looking to buy his land, but says at some point the steadily increasing offers might be too hard to refuse.
Environmental groups are keeping a wary eye on Destiny, as with all major developments, but say the early signs are promising because Pugliese's plan would preserve so much natural space.
"We're optimistic, but that may not ultimately be what happens," said Charles Lee, advocacy director for Audubon of Florida.
Pugliese is optimistic too. He has made a fortune on South Florida real estate by striking cheap deals at opportune times and designing high-end offices and condos, but this is by far his biggest undertaking.
The project's 65 square miles is bigger than Miami, though it would have far fewer people.
It's also important to Pugliese that the town have homes in every price range, from $100,000 into the millions, and apartments for those unready to purchase. After all, the 59-year-old hasn't always been on top.
Pugliese skipped college to help his laid-off father start a pool business in his native New Jersey at age 17, and at 21 penned a design that made the family a fortune: a residential pool that looks like a lake. Orange, N.J.-based Pugliese pools is still selling the same thing today, almost 40 years later.
Perhaps wealth's greatest affect on Pugliese has been his ability to amass a collection of strange and obscure pop culture items. He says the collection includes the gun Jack Ruby used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald, the leather jacket James Dean was wearing when he died and the suit John Lennon wore on the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album cover.
Those all might someday be on display in a Destiny museum, one of a handful of possible attractions to entice Orlando's more than 50 million annual tourists to visit.
The rotund, mustached and calm-speaking developer has also become much more health-conscious as he ages, a philosophy he hopes to suffuse in every aspect of Destiny life. He envisions a longevity spa like the one Pugliese visits, where he receives twice-weekly intravenous vitamin injections and plans for healthier living.
Destiny's restaurants would serve organic food, and the city's biomedical tenants would shepherd a constant quest for longer life. Sprawl and road-chocking traffic would be impossible after Pugliese protects the undeveloped land under special state rules that would forever prohibit building. It's not on the ocean, but residents could pop over to a beach in about 30 miles.
Still, there is a long road ahead before Pugliese's vision comes to life. He expects to spend the next two to three years going through the approval process, but says crews might in that time be able to break ground on a city center and university research park.
Destiny will need its own water and sewer system, fire and police force and even government. And Pugliese still needs to convince a bioresearch firm and universities to locate branches there, a competitive process typically requiring hundreds of millions in upfront incentives.
Daunting to others, perhaps, but to Pugliese an enjoyable, artistic challenge.
"It's all about having something unique, something that's creative, something that's attractive to people," he says. "Because you could fail on one acre just as easily as the 41,000 acres if you don't have a good idea and you're not doing it right."