Coincidentally, Trust for Public Land president Will Rogers had been talking with top Wells Fargo officials about properties that might be candidates for preservation. “Put Pleasure House Point at the top of your list,” Lynda Frost advised.
In the end, Wells Fargo officials and TPL staff
settled on $13 million for the property—an amount more in keeping with the current real estate market and $17 million less than the land had sold for in 2007. It was the upper limit of what TPL thought it could raise. In the spring of 2011, at a restaurant with a view across Lynnhaven Bay to Pleasure House Point, TPL staff met with Wells Fargo officials to settle on terms. As recently as that morn- ing, Frost and Whitehead had seen commercial real estate agents cruising the land. But in the end the bank agreed to sell if TPL could pull the funding together in a reason- able time frame. “I think the bank felt we knew what we were doing, and as long as we were able to deliver a decent amount for their shareholders, a preservation outcome would be a win for them and the community,” Frost says. “We are proud to play a role in the preservation of
JOHN HENLEY
An egret near Pleasure House Point. “We had enough condos, and we didn’t have many places to be alone and see wildlife,” one conservationist said.
In 2009, Wachovia Bank, which was holding the loan
on the property, was acquired by the San Francisco– based Wells Fargo Bank. Coincidentally, TPL president Will Rogers had been talking with top Wells Fargo of- ficials about a range of properties that might be can- didates for preservation. “Put Pleasure House Point at the top of your list,” Frost advised. She and Kent Whitehead, director of TPL’s Chesapeake Bay field office, then began working on a funding plan to see exactly how much they might be able to offer for the land. Under Mayor William Sessoms and Vice Mayor Louis Jones, the city took the lead with an initial pro- posed commitment of $5 million. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation would kick in $1 million for ten acres for its educational center. Other funds could come from state and federal conservation funding programs, and from a foundation grant. (See “Funding Pleasure House Point,” page 33.)
32 LAND&PEOPLE Fall/Winter 2012
this landmark property,” said Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Bill Honaker when the project closed earlier this year. “Wells Fargo worked hand in hand with TPL to structure the transaction in a way that meets both their funding and preservation goals. We’re pleased to make this investment in one of the many communities we serve.” Such opportunities to protect conservation-wor-
thy properties have been described as a “green lining” in the otherwise dark cloud of an economic downturn that has been desperately painful for the country, espe- cially to many homeowners and workers. But the situation is fraught with irony for conservationists, says TPL presi- dent Will Rogers. “On the one hand, there are properties such as Pleasure House Point—lands of remarkable value for public access and the environment that would have been completely out of reach for conservationists even a few years ago. On the other hand, public funding is much harder to find. We are grateful that we were able to put together this funding package, and, of course, we were very fortunate that Wells Fargo was able to make the conservation possible while still meeting its commit- ment to its shareholders.”
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