Will a 14,000-acre Bartow wildlife preserve stay wild or be developed?
Owner of Pine Log preserve could sell to the state, or someone else, if the price is right.
Originally published by Zachary Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The family that owns the 14,000-acre Pine Log Wildlife Management Area in Bartow County is in talks to sell the property to the state, potentially preserving land that the owners have pitched for residential, commercial and industrial development over the next two decades.
Pine Log and thousands of additional acres in Bartow and Cherokee counties, about an hour northwest of Atlanta, have been on the market since last year. The Neel family, which amassed some 19,500 acres of land over the past century, contemplated selling their property for future development.
Negotiations with the state Department of Natural Resources, which has operated the Pine Log preserve for 46 years, are ongoing, the family’s lawyer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But the owners’ price — said to be in the hundreds of millions — has not been met.
The family that owns the 14,000-acre Pine Log Wildlife Management Area in Bartow County is in talks to sell the property to the state, potentially preserving land that the owners have pitched for residential, commercial and industrial development over the next two decades.
Pine Log and thousands of additional acres in Bartow and Cherokee counties, about an hour northwest of Atlanta, have been on the market since last year. The Neel family, which amassed some 19,500 acres of land over the past century, contemplated selling their property for future development.
Negotiations with the state Department of Natural Resources, which has operated the Pine Log preserve for 46 years, are ongoing, the family’s lawyer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But the owners’ price — said to be in the hundreds of millions — has not been met.
“Ten years ago, they were still able to farm and move their combine equipment from their fields back and forth. And Bartow County had not exploded in growth,” Ramseur said. “It’s just time. They can no longer farm it effectively.”
Talks with Georgia DNR were first reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
The DNR in a statement said that it “is working hard to investigate all opportunities to provide public recreational access on this property into the future.”
A state purchase, however, isn’t a sure thing. The family is pursuing a development backup plan in case talks fall through.