A last-minute budget measure could let Florida buy more land from a donor the state paid $83 million to last year

A spokesperson for the donor said he did not lobby for the measure and does not currently have plans to sell any more land to the state.

Photo credit: National Park Service

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Editor’s note: A spokesperson for Robert Guidry responded Tuesday morning to say that his company had no involvement with the decision to add the land-acquisition provision to the new state budget and that Guidry “currently has no plans to sell land to the state.” The story and headline have been updated to reflect the response.

Florida Republicans in Tallahassee could buy more property from the same Panhandle developer and GOP donor to whom they paid $83 million last year in a land deal that sparked statewide outrage.

GOP leaders in the Florida Legislature agreed Sunday to insert a provision into the back of the next state budget authorizing Florida’s environmental protection agency to purchase property in Okaloosa County that falls within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, a string of protected areas along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Florida and Mississippi.

The idea was proposed and agreed to over the course of about eight hours on Sunday — just before House and Senate leadership finally cinched a deal on a roughly $115 billion state spending plan following months of delays.

Legislative leaders agreed Sunday to add this provision to the new state budget.

The last-minute budget language does not identify any specific properties to be acquired. A spokesperson for House Speaker Danny Perez (R-Miami) — whose chamber suggested the language — did not respond to email requests seeking more details about the land the Legislature intends to purchase.

But property records show that a pair of companies — “Okaloosa Island Prime Properties LLC” and “Intracoastal Marina at Destin Pass LLC” — own at least four parcels of vacant land immediately next to the Okaloosa County section of the Gulf Islands Nation Seashore. The four parcels total more than 6 acres combined.

Source: Okaloosa County Property Appraiser

Corporate records show that Okaloosa Island Prime Properties LLC and Intracoastal Coastal Marina at Destin Pass LLC are both managed by a Louisiana-based real-estate developer and Republican Party donor named Robert Guidry. Guidry was also the owner of four acres of vacant land in Destin that Florida bought last year for more than $20 million an acre — after GOP legislators in Tallahassee pulled off a nearly identical budget maneuver.

Source: Florida Division of Corporations

After this story was published, a spokesperson for Guidry contacted Seeking Rents to say that he was not involved in the decision to add the land-buying language to the budget and that — while the provision could enable future purchases — Guidry does not currently plan to sell any more land to the state.

“His company had nothing to do with the request or the language and currently has no plans to sell land to the state,” the spokesperson said.

Disclosure records show that lobbyists for another of Guidry’s companies — “Pointe Resort LLC” — have been working Florida lawmakers this year on issues related to “beach preservation” and “land acquisition.”

Source: Florida House of Representatives

Guidry’s companies are substantial donors to Florida Republicans. In July, for instance, Okaloosa Island Prime Properties LLC put $25,000 into a political committee controlled by a Republican political consultant in Tallahassee.

That same day, records show the consultant-controlled committee gave $25,000 to “Conservatives for a Better Florida,” a fundraising committee controlled by Danny Perez, the state House speaker.

The same committee also gave $50,000 about two weeks later to “Panhandle Prosperity,” a fundraising committee for Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Republican from Panama City. Trumbull is the lawmaker who had language added to last year’s budget that enabled the $83 million land deal in Destin.

Source: Florida Division of Elections

Trumbull got the language from one of Guidry’s lobbyists, according to emails that Seeking Rents obtained through a public records request after the 2025 session.

Source: “Florida lawmakers took instructions from a landowner’s lobbyist. Now Florida taxpayers will pay $83 million for four acres.”

Trumbull — a powerful lawmaker who represents Okaloosa County and is in line to become president of the Florida Senate in about two years — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The last-minute budget instructions also authorize the acquisition of additional land in Okaloosa County that is “located next to a local government park.”

That part could encompass a 1.78-acre parcel of land at the foot of a bridge between Shalimar and Fort Walton Beach that local leaders want to buy for a municipal park. Lawmakers floated a proposal to buy that specific piece of property earlier in their budget negotiations; that project is also important to Trumbull.

Just like last year’s $83 million land buy in Destin, the Florida Legislature would finance these latest Panhandle purchases by raiding funds that were originally set aside for the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

That’s a bipartisan program intended to assemble a vast conservation corridor through the center of the state that panthers, black bears and other animals can use to migrate. The Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis allocated $850 million for the program three years ago. But the governor and lawmakers have repeatedly siphoned money from it since.