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Edition XIV · Mon Nov 2St. Petersburg

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Old Florida Money
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Chromolithograph-style bird's-eye illustration of a small airfield in pine flatwoods dotted with round cypress ponds: a long runway crossed by a shorter one, hangars, a few parked jets and a rail line, with no people.
Plate I · The county land beside North County Airport that Jeff Greene sought

The LeadPeople · Palm Beach County

Jeff Greene sought county airport land and a jet terminal. Now he must compete

The billionaire investor and 2018 candidate for governor offered $30 million for land beside Palm Beach County's North County airport, tied to a 50-year jet terminal lease. Commissioners voted 7-0 on Oct. 20 to open both to rival bids, and as of Nov. 1 nothing had been sold or leased.

Billionaire investor Jeff Greene asked Palm Beach County to sell him 131 acres beside its North County airport and lease him a site there for a private-jet terminal. If you fly private in Palm Beach County, the winner would hold that terminal lease for half a century. Stet News, a nonprofit Palm Beach County news site, reports that the county's main airport has no room for more private planes. North County, off Beeline Highway, is meant to take some of them, Stet adds.

Why it matters: Palm Beach County owns the land and the airport.

Old Florida Money desk · Mon Nov 2 · As of Nov. 1, per the county's posted meeting summaries and Stet News, nothing has been sold, leased or signed and no solicitation has been posted. Greene's plans, estimates and reasons are his own claims, as Stet News reports them. · Sources: Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners (Oct. 20 agenda, meeting summary and meeting recording); Stet News; WPTV; The Palm Beach Post; WFLX; Forbes

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Art Deco style illustration of one plain closed ballot box on a low pedestal in open Florida grassland at dusk, with no people, signs or lettering.
Plate II · Amendment Three would cut local property taxes on Florida homes

Money Pulse

Risograph-style illustration of a large white Gulf-front house in Naples seen from the beach: columned porches, tile hip roofs, a long pool on the lawn, dune grass and surf in front and coconut palms around it.
Plate III · The new Gulf-front Naples house that sold off-market in October

This edition, by desk

Houses

A new Gulf-front house in Naples sold off-market for $69.4 million on Oct. 13. The same piece of beach sold for $870,000 in 1985. Every Houses story is on the Houses desk page.

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People

This edition's lead is a People story: Jeff Greene's offer for county land and a private-jet terminal at North County Airport, which Palm Beach County has opened to competing bids. ADT's agreement to go private, with Apollo's funds backing the buyer, is in the Pulse. Every People story is on the People desk page.

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Teams

This edition's Teams story, Florida State's firing of football coach Mike Norvell and the buyout it owes him, is in the Pulse. Every Teams story is on the Teams desk page.

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    Politics

    This edition's Politics stories are in the Pulse: the Realtor money paying for Amendment 3, David Jolly's call for Byron Donalds to divest his family's school firms and Miami's Virginia Key marina vote. Every Politics story is on the Politics desk page.

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      1. 1850 · plat

        Land, before anyone wanted it.

      2. 1950 · 2,771,305

        Then it was subdivided, and it did not stop.

      3. NOW · desks

        Where the money sits.

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      Plate IV · The Plat