Destiny, Florida facts for kids
Destiny, Florida was a large-scale urban development project in Osceola County near Yeehaw Junction, Florida. The project was a joint partnership between the Pugliese Development Co. of Delray Beach and FD Destiny LLC, owned by Fred DeLuca. It was one of 16 initial projects of “climate positive" real estate developments supported by the Clinton Climate Initiative. The project faced delays due to lawsuits and opposition from Florida state agencies and fell apart. The main portion of the land previously intended for the project has since been donated for conservation.
Proposed development
The project planned for the eventual development of a 41,300-acre (167 km2) property to include 88,000 to 100,000 residential units for a population of 200,000 to 250,000 residents. Initial plans, scheduled to begin in 2011, called for up to 10,000 residential units and 7,000,000 square feet (650,000 m2) of business use. The proposed infrastructure was based on a large-scale "climate positive" community entirely supported through sustainable energy. Sources of energy would have included a 30MW solar array, a waste management system for extracting methane, and an energy farm for the production of biofuel.
DeLuca Preserve
In late 2020, a 27,000-acre (110 km2) section of land formerly intended for the project was donated by Fred DeLuca's widow Elisabeth to the University of Florida under the provision that it remain preserved in its undeveloped state. Under the conditions of the donation, Ducks Unlimited has been given the responsibility to enforce the conservation easement on the land, which is now called the DeLuca Preserve. The university is able to use the land for teaching and research purposes, íncluding some amount of experimental citriculture.
