ALCO - Mitch Hutchcraft Joins Alico Inc. as Executive Vice President of Real Estate | Benzinga
FORT MYERS, Fla., May 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alico, Inc. ("Alico") has announced that Mitch Hutchcraft is joining the company in a newly created position as Executive Vice President of Real Estate, effective as of today.
In 2022, Alico began a process to analyze the long-term potential for its approximately 54,500 acres of real estate located in seven counties throughout Florida. As a publicly held company, Alico seeks to provide its investors with the benefits and stability of a conventional agriculture investment, with the optionality that comes with active land management.
Alico is committed to remaining the largest citrus grower in Florida and is continuing its current citrus operations without interruption. However, the Company also believes it is prudent and necessary to continuously evaluate its entire real estate portfolio to determine the potential for the highest and best use of each acre it owns.
Last summer, preliminary work commenced on a multi-year entitlement process for its 4,500-acre Corkscrew Grove near Fort Myers in Collier County. Citrus operations at Corkscrew are ongoing.
Before joining Alico, Mr. Hutchcraft served for 17 years as the Vice President of Real Estate for King Ranch. He was involved with the land acquisition, protection of assets from changing regulations, long term value enhancement of real estate assets, public policy, and operational enhancement through real estate projects.
For almost 8 years, Mr. Hutchcraft led King Ranch's legal, entitlement, and strategic planning activities on the property now known as "Kingston". Under a strategic affiliation with a chosen developer, Kingston is a noteworthy real estate development that is expected to be built on more than 6,600 acres, including 3,330 acres of land designated for restoration or preservation as part of a comprehensive environmental strategy to improve connected habitat, wetland quality, and historic water flows. That proposed development is expected to include 10,000 dwelling units, 240 hotel units, and hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial use. Kingston is located along Corkscrew Road in Lee County, Florida and is near Alico's Corkscrew Grove.
Prior to working for King Ranch, Mr. Hutchcraft worked as the Regional Vice President for Bonita Bay Group from 2001 through 2007. He was directly involved or progressively responsible for land acquisition, strategic planning, entitlements, permitting, site design, community establishment, product positioning, builder relationships and governmental affairs for several of the company's planned communities, including Shadow Wood Preserve, Veranda, Murphy's Landing, and LaBelle Village. Mr. Hutchcraft's involvement included projects ranging in size from 25 acres to 5,000 acres and totaling over 4,000 permitted dwelling units and associated permitted non-residential uses. Established Bonita Bay projects include Bonita Bay (a 2,400-acre master planned gated community located near Naples, Florida), Mediterra, ShadowWood ...