The University of Florida finalized its $37 million purchase of 2,600 acres just west of Gainesville in March, taking the next step toward a potential 36-hole golf course.  

UF purchased the acres all on the west side of Parker Road, with plans for UF/IFAS to manage it. As a result of the purchase, the Lee family, which owned the land, donated another 580-acre parcel on the eastern side of the road for the golf course, clubhouse and other related development. 

The land is near the Oakmont neighborhood and Terwilliger Elementary School. Mori Hosseini, chair of UF’s Board of Trustees, is also the CEO of ICI Homes, which manages Oakmont and builds the homes there. 

In 2024, the Florida Legislature approved $38.8 million in funding for the purchase. UF/IFAS will use the leftover funds from the purchase for management. 

Steve Orlando, UF’s interim vice president for strategic communications and marketing, confirmed the contract had been signed but declined to offer any information on next steps.  

“The university and the Lee family closed on the Hickory Sink property on March 28, 2025. The property will be used by UF/IFAS, as proposed,” Orlando said in a statement. 

He said the statement is all UF would have to say about the project for now.  

The property has been in discussions for several years, with an original offer to UF back in 2010.  

A 2023 plan, presented to the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), showed the two 18-hole golf courses with clubhouse and cottages for guests. UF said Mark Bostick Golf Course, at 100 years old, no longer meets some of the university’s needs.  

UF and its consultants at the time said the university planned to move forward immediately with a plan for the golf course.  

The Lee family has owned around 4,000 acres in the Hickory Sink area since 1956, when the bulk of the property was purchased by Francis and Miranda Childress. Since then, the family has used the land for timber, ranching and farming.  

The family started looking at options for the land over a decade ago, including federal and state funds for conservation. But many of those programs have historically been geared toward wetlands.  

Finally, the family and UF came forward with a special area study on the property. Because a large portion of the land lies within the Hickory Sink strategic ecosystem, the study was needed before any development occurs. The special area study showed what kind of development could occur at the site. The study included the potential of housing, a town center and a solar array.  

The family considered selling a 2,000-acre portion to a developer at one point but said it wanted to conserve the land, if possible.  

“Getting this done was really down to our partners, the Alachua County Commission and the University of Florida,” Val Lee said in a statement to Mainstreet. “Commissioner [Anna] Prizzia, then chair, approached us about asking the State to preserve this land. Florida got behind us politically and drove the process at the State level.”    

Prizzia said the land is worth conservation, calling it a vital part of the county. She said she’s excited about the restorative work UF/IFAS may do to improve the habitat. Prizzia also hopes the university puts the land under a permanent conservation easement to ensure its future protection.    

“It’s one of the largest parcels of land that’s still in private ownership and undeveloped, and it contains rare Sand Hill ecosystems that have gopher tortoises and Bachman’s sparrows and indigo snakes. It’s a really unique habitat,” Prizzia told Mainstreet. 

Prizzia said the special area study, while not presenting a hard development proposal, showed what could happen, and she said it would have been a travesty for rooftops to take over this land that the Lee family had stewarded for so long.  

“This was a great outcome for the family, the state and the county,” Val Lee said. 

As part of the contract, UF has licensed back the land on the western side to the Lee family for 25 years, allowing the family to still use the property for activities like hunting.  

Alachua County primarily protects land through its Alachua County Forever program, an owner-initiated purchasing program backed by surtax funds. But the Lee family’s property would be a major acquisition.  

County Commissioner Ken Cornell said the Alachua County Forever program has an annual budget of around $12 million. Buying the Lee family site would wipe out around three years of funding.  

Cornell said it’s a perfect outcome with a partnership between the university and IFAS, the Lee family and Alachua County. He said UF/IFAS is the leading land management organization in the state, with offices in each of Florida’s 67 counties.  

“When we can find partners that align with our ethos of conserving and reestablishing the land, and they’re paying for it, seems like a good situation for the county and for the taxpayers,” Cornell said. “I have nothing but gratitude right now for UF and for IFAS for stepping forward.” 

Cornell said land that enters UF/IFAS management typically never leaves its control—it’s managed and preserved. He said he’s confident the university will conserve the land and said he looks forward to working with the partners to allow public access.  

However, the acquisition wasn’t all smooth sailing. After receiving the state funding, UF asked for more than the 2,600 acres plus the 580 acres the family would gift. The university stalled on buying the property for months. 

County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler referenced the issues during a recent county meeting. At the meeting, the BOCC was considering a partnership with UF to relocate the county’s animal resources building to a university property near campus. 

Wheeler said she wasn’t sure about entering a partnership with the university, highlighting past failed efforts. She said UF had been treating the Lee family badly in the land deal.  

“After speaking with the Lee brothers—and I’ve kept up with them pretty closely during this whole negotiation with them—they feel like even contracts made with the university can be broken. And they’ve seen it personally,” Wheeler said at the Feb. 11 meeting. 

In January, Orlando said discussions were still underway with nothing to report from the university.  

“We are still in discussions with the Lee family about the property on Parker Road and are also exploring other potential sites,” Orlando said at the time.  

Documents submitted to the Florida Legislature included a potential January 2025 start date for construction. The language in the Florida Legislature’s appropriation also allowed room for UF to maneuver. The wording allowed UF’s Board of Trustees to use the $38 million appropriation as it wished, if the purchase fell through. 

“If the University of Florida Board of Trustees does not approve the agreement to purchase the referenced site, the Board of Trustees, upon majority vote, may, subject to approval of the Board of Governors, use these funds to purchase a site within State of Florida for use that the Board of Trustees determines meets the needs and strategic goals of the University,” the 2024 appropriations bill read.  

No other appropriations that Mainstreet reviewed had the same leeway. 

The 36-hole golf course would be less than a half mile from Hawkstone Country Club. In the past few years, many Alachua County golf courses have struggled, including the closure of West End Golf Course, Meadowbrook Golf Course and the Gainesville Country Club.