The site of what is thought to be Orlando’s first settlement was for decades used as a Navy sonar lab, then housed school administration offices and could soon get new life thanks to a mystery buyer who plans to turn the property into a public park.
The Fort Gatlin site in south Orange County is now owned by the Orange County School Board, which last week approved the sale to an anonymous new owner.
Residents have been pushing for the property, which is along Lake Gem Mary, to be revitalized and turned into a county park. The school board no longer uses the old administrative office building.
But some were worried when they learned of the purchase plan.
Laura Pooser, who has lived in the area since 1989, said the deal almost seemed too good to be true. The lack of information around the buyer fueled concern that the site could be developed rather than made into park land, she said.
“How many parks do you know of that are privately owned, but it’ll be open to the public?” Pooser said.
Photographed April 19, 2004, an aerial view of the massive metal structure at Fort Gatlin, which was then the U.S. Navy’s sonar lab, on Lake Gem Mary in Orlando. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
But attorney James Willard, who represents the buyer, said his client is committed to the park plans and the community.
Willard said his client is from the Orlando area and is extremely familiar with Fort Gatlin.
“This is his way of giving back to the community. He’s been very successful in life, and is willing to spend whatever it takes,” Willard said.
The project is expected to cost $3 to $4 million, Willard said. The buyer will pay the school district $600,000 for the 2.5-acre lot and fund the demolition of the building, according to the school board. He later will donate the property to the county to maintain it as a park.
Fort Gatlin was built by the United States Army in 1838 and predated the city of Orlando. The fort stood at least through the 1850s.
The historical marker in front of the abandoned Fort Gatlin building in Orlando, the centerpiece of a longtime neighborhood effort to convert the former U.S. Army base and U.S. Navy sonar lab into a county park, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2025. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
The new owner plans some kind of marker about its history, Willard said.
The U.S. Navy developed a sonar test lab along the lake in the 1940s. That facility was closed in 1997 and turned over to Orange County Public Schools in 2001, which used it for offices. In 2021, the school board decided the property was no longer useful.
The buyer’s bid was unsolicited.
When they got wind of the potential sale, residents signed petitions and formed the Fort Gatlin Historical Group to rally neighbors and urge school leaders to make sure the property became a park. The committee members put up yard signs, contacted local officials and met every two weeks.
Some residents did the same in the late 1990s when they learned the Navy lab would close and feared condominiums would be built on the site, adding to traffic in the area.
“Above all else, we saw the historic value of that site and really had a vision for it becoming a historic park,” said Pooser, who was part of the earlier group and this year’s.
The building on the land now is shuttered, and neighbors are eager for improvements.
“It literally is an uncapped eyesore that’s boarded up, and it’s something that you drive by every day,” said Ryan Smith, who lives less than a quarter mile away.
Smith, another committee member, said park supporters had mixed reactions when they heard about the anonymous buyer.
“There’s a community that formed around the pursuit of a park and there’s many voices,” he said. “There were those in the group who took it at face value… and there were others on that other end of the spectrum who were highly skeptical.”
Mayra Uribe, the county commissioner who represents the area, and Alicia Farrant, the school board member for that region, understood the concerns and worked to reassure residents.
“It’s not every day you get somebody that wants to buy a property and donate their efforts and finances into making it into a public park and then donating it back to the county,” Farrant said.
The residents, elected officials, and representatives for the buyer held a meeting in December to discuss the park’s future and the purchase contract.
“What it made me realize is that this person had more love for this community and this park than their own self interest,” Uribe said about the meeting.
The park plan must get zoning approval from the county before the sale is finalized. Specific design elements and an exact construction timeline are not yet set, though Willard said the buyer wants a small dock constructed. The buyer has five years to open the park and donate it to the county, according to the contract with the school board.
Until then, the residents say they’ll keep a watchful eye.
“It’s not over, and we’ll continue to advocate and lean in as we as we need to and as we can over time,” Smith said.