The Mormon Church Is Becoming Florida's Private Largest Landowner – With Nearly 2% Of Its Landmass

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/mormon-church-florida-land-2013-11



ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The Mormon church is poised to become the largest private landowner in Florida as a result of a deal to buy nearly 400,000 acres in the state's Panhandle region.

The property is mostly timberland, and the church "intends to maintain timber and agricultural uses of the lands," according to a statement released by St. Joe Company, a Florida real estate firm.

The signed sales agreement with the church's company, AgReserves Inc., for $565 million is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, according to the statement. The company expects the deal to be finalized in the first quarter of 2014.

Paul Genho, chairman of AgReserves, Inc., in St. Joe's statement, described the entity as a "tax-paying affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," also known as the Mormon church.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/08/usa-florida-mormons-idUSL2N0IT2AZ20131108#ixzz2k9bDg0H1

[KurtNYC]

1. So they haven't seen that map that has been all over FaceBook this week?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2488452/Map-reveals-devastation-worlds-ice-melted.html

"Agricultural uses of the lands" is going to be a fish farm?

[valerief]

2. Rich people want to get richer NOW. They don't care about the future. nt

[TeeYiYi]

10. Maybe Jesus plans to save that section...

...or they intend to walk on water.

TYY

[elehhhhna]

3. Ooooooh. Turf wars for FL land with the Scientologists, next up!

Two totally American whacko religions fight it out in goofball land.

FUN!

[eShirl]

6. +1!

[HooptieWagon]

4. How St Joe got the property....

Pre Civil War, the state owned most of the land. Of course, S. Florida was swamp....central Florida was mostly open range for cattle. Very low population.... in 1860 Florida had less than 10% the populatiin of the other southern states.
After the war, people started coming to Florida to homestead. There was a "caretaker" reconstructionist government in Tallahassee. A yankee con-man showed up with a plan to expand the railroad network state-wide by buying several short-lines in the panhandle, merging them, and constructing new tracks down the peninsula. This was to be funded by issuing corporate bonds. No one was expected to buy the corporate bonds, so this carpet bagger con man bribed the reconstructionist state govt to trade the RR bonds straight up for State-issued bonds (which were secured by state land....the same land the state was giving to homesteaders).
The con man sold most of the bonds up north, and the remainder in Europe, before disappearing with millions in cash. State was left holding a bunch of worthless junk bonds.
Fast forward about 20 years (late 1880s)....the State-issued bonds reach maturity and the State of Fla has no money to pay them off. Since the bonds are secured by land, the State auctions off large swaths of land, receiving pennies on the dollar....and of course much was private homesteads, and open range where cattle grazed. Many of these large tracts of land were bought by timber (paper) companies. St Joe was one of those paper companies. Much of the open range was also grabbed for pennies on the dollar. Bit by bit it was fenced off, and closed to ranchers. Within 50 years (between the WWs), Florida's open range was gone.

[on point]

5. Don't worry, given climate change their investment will soon be under water!

[Arugula Latte]

16. I was gonna say, that's not the best investment if they're thinking long-term.

[magical thyme]

24. s'long as they don't expect the rest of us to bail them out....literally

Yours was my first thought, too.

[Coyotl]

7. Tithing, giving the church 10% of your income, is required of Mormons, and it really adds up.

So, the Mormon church has to find things to do with all that accumulated capital as it pours in.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. You know, I've heard of Catholic charities and other denominations have various

charities but I've never heard about any Mormon charities. They have all this money to spend on investments, but do they do anything for people who might not be Mormons? I know they can't make any money off of charities, so that might discourage them from spending money on soup kitchens and other services for less fortunate people. I suppose it's hard to collect tithes from the homeless. Since Mormons seem to be so keen on special underwear, you'd think they could at least provide undies for the poor.

[former9thward]

9. The Mormons have a large concentration where I live.

They are very active in local aid projects in this area. According to this site they have given away $1.2 billion since 1985 in 178 nations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LDS_Humanitarian_Services

[LuvNewcastle]

15. Thanks for the information. Looks like I was wrong about their work in charities.

Thanks for pointing it out and I'll be sure to remember that about them.

[Fla Dem]

17. That averages out to $4.3 mil per year over 28 years. Hardly a drop in the bucket vs their wealth.

In all, the LDS church is worth about $40 billion, according to a study cited in the article, and takes in $8 billion each year in tithes.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-07-13/national/35486806_1_lds-church-michael-purdy-mormon-leaders


Assuming that active U.S. Mormons give at a similar rate and adjusting for higher U.S. income, total U.S. tithing would amount to more than $6 billion, or about $6.5 billion annually between the United States and Canada.

Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, which also require financial disclosures, all have sharply lower donation rates than Canada. Based on data from those countries, tithing outside the United States and Canada totals several hundred million dollars, taking global total donations to about $7 billion.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/13/13262285-mormon-church-earns-7-billion-a-year-from-tithing-analysis-indicates

Not saying they are better or worse than any other religious denomination, just saying for what they take in each year in tithing alone. their charitable spending is kind of pitiful.

[former9thward]

21. Your math is off.

It is $43 million a year in that time period. I'm not here to defend or condemn the Mormons. I don't know much about them even though they are all around me. I don't know what they spend their money on and really don't care. Its their money and their decision. I do know their church centers, at least around here, are not palaces, unlike some religions.

[Fla Dem]

22. Damn those decimal points!

[ChazII]

13. A local stake,

made up of two wards, held car washes and raised $500.00 to help pay for my son's surgery.

My son has a plexiform tumor cause by neurofibromatosis.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1206&bih=690&q=plexiform+neurofibroma&oq=plexifor&gs_l=img.1.0.0l10.2143.8996.0.12959.17.15.0.2.2.0.409.1315.10j4-1.11.0....0...1ac.1.31.img..4.13.1323.gjTRi0lP19o


My son looks similar to the young boy wearing a blue shirt and about 7 yrs old in the pictures you see if you click on the link. One thing I will say, the Mormon community in which I live are active in local giving.

[LuvNewcastle]

14. That's great news. I hope your son is doing well now.

It's nice to hear stories like that about communities coming together to help others. I take back what I said about the Mormons and their charity work.

[ChazII]

19. LuvNewcastle, my son is doing well

but the tumor that is on his left cheek will never be completely removed. If you're familiar with the Disney version, my son closely resembles Quasimodo. Hunchback and all.

If you are ever interested in how plexi's differ from other tumors and why they can't be removed like other tumors let me know and I will let you know. Or even the other tumors you see in the photos from the link I can give you some information as well.

I am not a Mormon but I will say, thanks for your compliment.

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. The LDS Church has owned one of the largest ranches in Florida for decades

The Deseret Ranch, almost 300,000 acres;

http://www.deseretranchflorida.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_Ranches

It's the largest Cow/Calf operation in the US.







Edited to add the correct link

[bluestate10]

23. Don't confuse people with facts. The Mormon land purchase is all about the Benjamins.

The church has a number of very large, very successful business ventures that range from grocery store chains to automotive and computer components.

[HereSince1628]

12. Should it be Mormon church returns to largest landowner?

As I remember it, and I could be wrong, they had huge ag holdings in dairy, cattle and sugar that had them at No 1 back in the mid to late 70's

[MisterP]

18. presumably this is like the Bushies buying up Paraguayan water rights

guess there's dairy land in FL...

[JaneyVee]

20. Imagine it was the Muslim Church.

[magical thyme]

25. Floridians, here is your chance

Sell and get yourselves above sea level now, while you can.

Between rising water levels and sinking Florida limestone, you're doomed anyway. Embrace it and stick it to the Mormon church, all in one fell swoop.