Florida investor closes on one of largest land buys in U.S. history

Florida-based Fountain Investments has closed on one of the largest land sales, by acreage, in U.S. history, Real Estate Weekly reported, buying 1.28 million acres of land and minerals stretching from Reno to the Utah border in the State of Nevada from La Jolla, Calif.-based Pico Holdings. The land involved in the transaction constitutes 12 percent of privately owned land in the state, REW noted, and equates approximately to the size of Rhode Island. "A land sale for more than $30 million is very significant today," said Steve Lehr, senior managing director with CBRE's Land Services Group, which represented the seller in the deal. "The good news is that values have appeared to stabilize."