The Okaloosa County School Board has approved a contract to sell 17.43 acres of vacant district land in Fort Walton Beach for $1.8 million, after an earlier $2.1 million deal with D.R. Horton for the same property fell through.

• Board members voted Monday, Sept. 28, to adopt Resolution 26-11, which approves a purchase and sale agreement with Hillpointe Acquisitions, LLC, for the parcel at Lovejoy Road and Hill Avenue.

The vote followed a public hearing during the board’s regular meeting that evening. Most of the discussion on the sale took place during a board workshop earlier in the day.

During the workshop, Chairwoman Linda Evanchyk asked for background on the property, which sits behind what is now Okaloosa Academy. Get The Coast previously reported that the land is the old Combs New Heights Elementary P.E. area north of the charter school.

“Originally the school board owned the entire parcel, the parent parcel, if you will, and then that’s where the Combs New Heights and Combs School was located, on the front part of that property,” School Board Attorney Jeff McInnis said. “The board approved and sold a portion of that property to the Okaloosa Academy for that charter school operation, so that was cut out of the parcel that was originally owned.”

McInnis said the remaining 17.43 acres are what is under contract. There are no buildings or facilities on the land being sold.

Four years on the market

The board declared the property surplus under Resolution 22-03, finding it was no longer necessary for educational or ancillary purposes of the district.

In May 2022, the board directed the superintendent to seek sealed proposals for the property, and the district issued RFP 22-02. McInnis said the bids that came in were all significantly below the appraised value, and the board rejected them. Proposals were opened June 7, 2022, and rejected at the board’s June 27, 2022, meeting, according to previous reporting. Appraisals at the time placed the property’s fair market value between $1.65 million and $1.8 million.

D.R. Horton later submitted an unsolicited offer, and the board unanimously approved a $2.1 million contract with the company on March 25, 2024. McInnis said the company completed its due diligence and then terminated the contract, choosing not to buy the property.

The board then issued a request for proposals to select a real estate broker and chose RE/MAX Agency One, which listed the property on the open market.

• “It’s been out on the market for a little bit over a year now. We do have an offer in at the asking price of $1.8 million,” McInnis said.

McInnis said the property has been appraised by three firms. Two firms appraised it when the board first declared it surplus, and those appraisals were updated within the last year. A different firm was used for one of the updates because one of the original firms was no longer available.

Due diligence and restrictions

The contract includes an inspection period and an approvals period, which McInnis says is standard for this type of sale. During those windows, the buyer can complete its due diligence, seek zoning for what it plans to build and work to secure permits before closing.

In response to a question from Board Member Dr. Lamar White, McInnis said the inspection period is 120 days, followed by an approval period he said he believed is 330 days.

“If during that timeframe they choose not to buy it, then they have a right to terminate the contract, and their earnest money deposit would be returned to them,” McInnis said.

If the buyer backs out, the contract requires it to give the school board all of its due diligence work, including site studies, tests, environmental assessments and surveys.

Evanchyk noted that the district does not get involved in what a buyer plans to do with property it sells. She pointed to the former district property on Lowery Place in downtown Fort Walton Beach, where apartments are now planned.

• “We didn’t have anything to do with that. We just sold the property,” Evanchyk said.

Get The Coast reported in October 2025 that the Hammond, Louisiana-based Stoa Group was under contract to buy the 120 Lowery Place site and had filed plans for a 268-unit apartment complex there.

McInnis said any buyer is responsible for getting the land rezoned and permitted.

“Our properties are typically not zoned for any type of private development, so they have to go through a process to work with either the city or the county to get it rezoned and get permits and construction and go through development orders,” McInnis said. “All that is on the buyer, not on the school district.”

McInnis said this contract does include one condition on how the land can be used.

“Because there is an open active school right adjacent to this, we do have a condition in here that it has to be used for residential-type development, just protecting that school operation that’s there,” he said. “And that lasts only as long as there is a school there.”

McInnis said the covenant would go away if Okaloosa Academy were to sell its property.

The board’s approval authorizes the chairwoman and the superintendent to sign the contract, which starts the buyer’s due diligence period.