The Palm Beach County school board is selling a rural property known as the Burt Reynolds Ranch to New Jersey-based developer K. Hovnanian Homes for $5 million despite the opposition of nearby homeowners, the Palm Beach Post reported. The board voted 5-2 to sell the 153-acre Jupiter Farms, which Reynolds owned for decades.
The school district had planned to build a middle school on the site after buying it from Reynolds in 1999 for $3.85 million, as The Real Deal previously reported.
The actor filmed scenes in Smokey and the Bandit on the ranch, and it was also the location of his marriage to actress Loni Anderson.
Stephen Liller, Hovananian’s vice president of land acquisitions, said last week that the company wants to build 62 homes at a density of about one home per every 2.5 acres, according to the Post.
Critics of the school board’s sale say the deal is unlikely to go through because of current zoning restrictions that limit rural construction to one home per 10 acres. [Palm Beach Post] —Emily Schmall