ORANGE BEACH -- Extending a deal that has been on the table since May 2005, the City Council voted unanimously Friday to give developer Rick Phillips 60 days to buy three lots on Perdido Pass from the city for $3.5 million.
Sandwiched between the sea wall on the western edge of the pass and private property to the north, the lots -- which add up to less than an acre -- are, for the most part, inaccessible. They were given to Orange Beach in the late 1990s by the Alabama Department of Transportation, which gave the city permission to sell the land to Phillips and his investors in 2005 provided the proceeds were used to buy Robinson Island.
Because the sale of the lots never closed, the city financed its Robinson Island purchase as part of a bond issue. Though Orange Beach could still use the $3.5 million to pay off the Robinson Island debt, it will have to wait about nine years to do so to avoid prepayment penalties, City Administrator Jeff Moon said.
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