Florida paid $83.3M for 4 Destin acres. Guidry’s companies wrote at least $350,000 in political checks

The land is about 4 acres on the south side of Destin Harbor. The interesting object is the price tag the state put on it, and the checks that went out from the seller’s address before and after.

On Sept. 30, 2025, the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund took up an option to buy approximately 4 acres in Okaloosa County from Pointe Mezzanine, LLC and Pointe Resort, LLC. The consideration was $83,326,520, or $20,831,630 an acre. The same agenda lists the sellers’ purchase price as $7,901,214, paid in 2016 and 2017 (DEP agenda). WUWF and E&E News report the same basis, $7.9M and nearly $8M (WUWF; E&E News). DeSantis and the Cabinet approved the deal as part of a bundle of projects (WUWF; Orlando Sentinel). The state closed on Dec. 11, 2025 (Get the Coast); Seeking Rents reported the transaction concluded in December 2025.

Both selling companies are registered in state corporate filings to Robert Guidry, a Louisiana business owner the Tampa Bay Times calls a prominent donor to state politicians and to local officials in the Panhandle county where the land sits (Tampa Bay Times). Sunbiz lists Guidry, Robert J as manager and registered agent of Pointe Mezzanine, LLC, and of East Pass Prime Properties, LLC, which manages Pointe Resort, LLC. Both list 1901 Manhattan Blvd., Building H, Suite 101, Harvey, La. (Sunbiz).

The money

The price was built from two numbers. H. Linwood Gilbert Jr., MAI, valued the 3.945-acre upland site at about $55,300,000 as of March 15, 2025, using 79 condominium units at $700,000 each. A separate Gilbert letter put the retail value of the marina slips at $12,600,000, and he added $11,136,000 for upland and seawall work and $4,290,520 for roadway, public parking and utilities, a total of $28,026,520. The two figures sum to the $83,326,520 consideration (DEP Attachment 4F).

Both appraisals were done for the seller. Gilbert’s certifications say he valued the property at the request of Joseph Winkeler, manager of Pointe Mezzanine and Pointe Resort; the second appraisal, by Marr Appraisal LLC, is addressed to Winkeler and puts the total at $83,700,000 as of Aug. 7, 2025 (DEP Attachment 4F). E&E News reported that the staff recommendation relies on appraisals submitted by the landowner (E&E News). The marina is not new to the deal: Gilbert’s letter says it was completed in December 2023 with 50 wet slips and three mooring points (DEP Attachment 4F).

The Legislature told the state to buy. The agenda says Section 174 of Chapter 2025-198, Laws of Florida, directed the Department to acquire the property and to use an existing appraisal from its approved list, Gilbert’s (DEP agenda). E&E News reported the deal was inserted into the state budget (E&E News). Seeking Rents reported that Pointe Resort LLC was the company used to hire lobbyists in Tallahassee, who then wrote the budget earmark.

The check register reads from the same Harvey address. A Division of Elections search for contributions of $5,000 or more from Harvey, La., since Jan. 1, 2024 returns exactly eight checks, all from 1901 Manhattan Blvd., totaling $350,000 (Division of Elections). Four came before the vote: Superior Waterfront Properties gave Friends of James Uthmeier $25,000 on Feb. 19, 2025; SE Anderson Orange II LLC gave $100,000 each to Central Florida Solutions PC and Safer Florida on March 12, 2025; and Okaloosa Island Prime Properties gave Florida Right Solutions $25,000 on Aug. 15, 2025. Four came this summer: Pointe Resort gave $25,000 each to the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee on June 29, Panhandle Prosperity on July 2 and Friends of James Uthmeier on Aug. 10, 2026, and Friends of Byron Donalds PAC recorded $25,000 from “PIONTE RESORT LLC,” a misspelling at the same address, on June 29 (Division of Elections). Sunbiz lists Guidry as manager or registered agent of Superior Waterfront, Okaloosa Island Prime and SE Anderson Orange II (Sunbiz). Seeking Rents reported that over six weeks this summer Pointe Resort gave a combined $100,000 to four top Florida Republicans, including Uthmeier and committees controlled by Donalds.

The Uthmeier timing

By law, the trust lands are vested in a board of four trustees: the Governor, the Attorney General, the Chief Financial Officer and the Commissioner of Agriculture (s. 253.02). Attorney General James Uthmeier chairs Friends of James Uthmeier, according to its Division of Elections record. Superior Waterfront Properties, a Guidry company, gave that committee $25,000 on Feb. 19, 2025, seven months before the Sept. 30, 2025 vote. Pointe Resort gave it another $25,000 on Aug. 10, 2026 (Division of Elections; Sunbiz). Seeking Rents reported that Uthmeier voted to spend the $83 million.

CFO Blaise Ingoglia told reporters, “I just wish to say I have concerns,” and declined to elaborate (WUWF; Orlando Sentinel). Seeking Rents reported that Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson also voted for the deal. Division of Elections records show Okaloosa Island Prime’s $25,000 to Florida Right Solutions on Aug. 15, 2025, and Florida Right Solutions’ $25,000 to Friends of Blaise Ingoglia on Aug. 18, 2025, three days later. Seeking Rents had put the two on the same day; the state records show three days apart.

How it works

A budget line can set a land price. When the Legislature directs a purchase by name and tells the agency to use an existing appraisal, the trustees’ vote becomes the last stop, not the first look. Here the appraisal was the seller’s, and the price was its condominium value plus the retail value of slips plus the developer’s own infrastructure costs (DEP agenda; DEP Attachment 4F). The checks do not prove a trade. They show who was paying the officials who sign, and when.

What could still stop it

Several pieces rest on one outlet. The lobbying and earmark account and the individual votes of Uthmeier, Ingoglia and Simpson come from Seeking Rents alone, and are labeled that way here. No primary minutes of the Sept. 30, 2025 meeting were read, and no deed or closing statement was read; the closing date comes from Get the Coast and Seeking Rents. Seeking Rents reported that a Guidry spokesperson said the developer had nothing to do with a provision in this year’s budget that could enable more state purchases of his property, and had no current plans to sell more land to the state. Division of Elections lists Russell S. Doster as chair of Panhandle Prosperity and Ryan Smith as chair of Friends of Byron Donalds PAC; no primary record read here ties either committee to a legislator.

Why it matters across Florida

This is the Panhandle’s version of a statewide pattern: a waterfront parcel, a developer who gives across the Capitol, and a budget line that names the purchase. On Sept. 29, 2026, the same board approved what the state calls more than $72.6M to conserve more than 10,770 acres by buying development rights while owners keep the land (see the Cabinet story). Comparing the two is how a reader sees what the state pays for, and for whom.

What to watch

Any further state purchase near Norriego Point. The next Division of Elections filings from the Harvey, La., address. Okaloosa County’s plan for the park and the public marina (DEP agenda). Primary minutes of the Sept. 30, 2025 trustees’ meeting, which would settle each trustee’s vote.