by Dawn Kitterman<\/p>\n
MANATEE COUNTY \u2014 Rattlesnake Key, an undeveloped island situated just north of Emerson Preserve in Manatee County, was sold to a private corporation. State and local officials had long eyed the property for conservation, but negotiations with the seller to acquire it for public use fell apart last year.
According to local property records, the Rattlesnake Key Preservation Company, LLC, a Delaware-based company, purchased the more than 720-acre parcel from seller Cayo Cascabel, LLC for $18 million. The sale closed on October 28, 2025.
An untouched slice of Old Florida, Rattlesnake Key and the surrounding parcels are home to important mangrove and wetland habitat for fish and wildlife.
Rattlesnake Key\u2019s fragile ecosystems are not only nurseries for sharks, dolphins, and birds, but also act as natural filters for pollutants, helping to protect the health of Terra Ceia Bay to the east and Tampa Bay to the west and south.\u00a0
Accessible only by boat, the island and its surrounding waters have long been enjoyed by locals who fish, boat, and kayak along its shorelines.
The island’s significance as one of the last undeveloped coastal lands in Tampa Bay has drawn strong advocacy from conservation groups and environmental experts who argue for its preservation and protection from development.
Honey Rand, a spokesperson for the property\u2019s seller, confirmed the recent sale to TBT in an email, writing, \u201cThe Skyway Partnership, Tampa Bay Real Estate Investment Corporation, is pleased to announce the sale of Rattlesnake Key in a private transaction.\u201d
Rand included that the sellers \u201care delighted that the new owners intend to ensure the long-term environmental conservation and public use\u201d of the land.
As an incorporated LLC of Delaware, little information was publicly available<\/a> about the Rattlesnake Key Preservation Company, LLC.
Delaware\u2019s Division of Corporations\u2019 records show the company was formed on October 21, about a week before the closing of the sale.
Reached by email, Sally Dee, the spokesperson for the buyer, shared a similar message about the buyer\u2019s intent for the property. \u201cThe Rattlesnake Key Preservation Company, LLC, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Rattlesnake Key. This investment is intended to preserve the natural character of this special property for local residents, sportsmen, and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy for generations.\u201d
In 1996, Rattlesnake Key was included in FDEP\u2019s state acquisition list as part of the broader Terra Ceia Florida Forever Project<\/a>, with the island itself being identified by the state for potential future acquisition and public conservation years prior.
In 2021, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program<\/a> (TBEP)\u2014an intergovernmental partnership of Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties; the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD); and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP)\u2014identified Rattlesnake Key as a conservation priority. The program\u2019s policy board delivered a letter to state officials in support of its public acquisition.
The same year, Manatee County Commissioners unanimously approved $3 million to support a potential state effort to purchase the island for conservation and the development of a state park.
In March 2022, the Florida Legislature marked $23 million<\/a> for the purchase of Rattlesnake Key in the proposed budget as part of the state\u2019s Forever Florida program.
By June 2022, the planned acquisition and future state park appeared to be full steam ahead when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the proposed budget into law, including the Rattlesnake Key appropriations.
But things came to a hard stall in the months after the combined $26 million state and local funding was approved, when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection commissioned an appraisal that came in just north of $7 million\u2014significantly below the estimated $25-30 million sale value tossed around during initial talks.\u00a0
By spring of 2024, with prospects for the public sale of the island hitting an impasse, the property<\/a>, including surrounding acreage, was placed on the market as part of a $75 million, 1,000-acre listing.
Speaking to the Tampa Bay Times in April 2024<\/a>, Rand called the state\u2019s appraisal \u201cworse than a lowball\u201d and said the figure didn\u2019t take into account 30 acres of upland and that the island sits above the mean high tide line.
A sales brochure<\/a> advertising the 1,000 acres, including Rattlesnake Key Island, suggested a wide range of potential uses for the land beyond a public park, including seagrass and mangrove mitigation, a commercial marina for super yachts, a cruise port terminal, a resort-hotel destination, or even a private residential estate, among other possibilities.
Despite the island being listed as part of a parcel package, the island\u2019s sellers said they were still open to a public sale to preserve the land at a price closer to the originally agreed-upon price, which was well above the state\u2019s appraised value.
In June 2024, the earmarked state funding for the acquisition expired, and the 2025 budget approved by DeSantis included a significant reduction in state appropriations for the purchase of Rattlesnake Key.
The adjusted funding amount was for an $8 million state contribution, which came with a new plan to develop the island into a Manatee County preserve under county responsibility, rather than a state park. This arrangement left the county with an impossible financial stretch, effectively closing the door on the plans for a public acquisition.\u00a0
In her emailed statement on behalf of the Rattlesnake Key Preservation Company, spokesperson Sally Dee stated that the new owner’s intention to preserve the island’s natural character would be undertaken in consultation with local agencies.
\u201cWe plan to work\u202fclosely with officials from Manatee County and the State of Florida, as well as regional environmental leaders, to determine the most effective strategy for future management and public use of Rattlesnake Key,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Dawn Kitterman MANATEE COUNTY \u2014 Rattlesnake Key, an undeveloped island situated just north of Emerson Preserve in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[15400,8052,15393,15398,6504,15401,15396,15397,684,1943,1618,266,15402,7088,15394,1407,202,204,203,199,201,200,15399,15395],"class_list":["post-74513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-anna-maria-island","tag-bradenton","tag-bradenton-news","tag-business-directory","tag-calendar","tag-cortez","tag-election-guide","tag-election-news","tag-events","tag-festivals","tag-fla","tag-local-news","tag-longboat-key","tag-manatee-county","tag-manatee-county-news","tag-music","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-things-to-do-around-bradenton","tag-voting-guide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}