Port Rejects $265,000 Offer for Dade Street Parcels

The port parcel was listed as six developable lots

Ocean Highway and Port Authority (OHPA) commissioners Wednesday rejected an offer to sell two parcels that are part of a third of an acre property the port has listed for sale.

Commissioners voted 3-2 not to accept an offer for two 25-by-100-foot lots that the potential buyers said they would combine into one lot to accommodate a single-family home.

Commissioners voting against the sale argued they wanted to sell the entire .32 acre parcel to a single buyer even though they previously approved a real estate listing that billed the land as "Property features 5 lots of record, giving you endless opportunities for variety of single-family homes." On Realtor.com the land is listed as three lots at $285,000 for each tract.

The entire property is listed at $850,000. The offer for the two parcels was $265,000.

OHPA Chair Justin Taylor and Commissioner Miriam Hill renewed their opposition to selling the land with Hill stating, "do we want to build houses all the way up to the gates (of the port)?"

Taylor renewed his opposition maintaining "we shouldn't be selling port assets."

That drew a rebuke from Vice Chair Ray Nelson who told Hill, "We've beat that horse to death. This is not a bad deal" in reference to the seemingly endless OHPA debates over selling the land.

Newly elected Commissioner Scott Moore, who campaigned against selling port land, said he opposed a parcel-by-parcel sale approach, but that he supported the sale of the entire property because he didn't want to reverse the decision made by the previous OHPA commission.

The commission instructed its real estate agent Phil Griffin of Amelia Coastal Realty to only consider offers for the whole tract.

According to Nassau County records, OHPA purchased the land in 2003.