Destiny, Florida was a large-scale urban development project in Osceola County near Yeehaw Junction,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The project was a joint partnership between the Pugliese Development Co. of

Delray Beach Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020, was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located in the Miami metropolitan area, Delray Beach is 52 miles (83 ...

and FD Destiny LLC, owned by

Fred DeLuca Frederick Adrian DeLuca (October 3, 1947 – September 14, 2015) was an American businessman, who was the co-founder and president of the Subway franchise of fast food restaurants with Peter Buck. During his tenure, Subway grew into the largest ...

. It was one of 16 initial projects of “climate positive" real estate developments supported by the

Clinton Climate Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

. The project faced delays due to lawsuits and opposition from Florida state agenciesMarvin G. Gortner
"Destiny facing huge hurdles "
County News, ''Around Osceola'', 9 April 2010 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 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 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 Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

Controversy

In 2009 Osceola County proposed an amendment in its comprehensive building plan for a "new city overlay on more than 500,000 acres in a rural area in the county", which would allow for the construction of the Destiny development as well as several other large-scale projects. The Florida Department of Community Affairs opposed the amendment, citing the Florida’s Growth Management Act and stating the amendment would contribute to

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

. There was additional opposition to the development from the Avon Park Air Force Range which had been requested by the developers to change its

flight ceiling With respect to aircraft performance, a ceiling is the maximum density altitude an aircraft can reach under a set of conditions, as determined by its flight envelope. Service ceiling Service ceiling is the density altitude at which the rate o ...

from to . The Air Force said this would interfere with flight training. In September 2009, Fred DeLuca filed suit against Anthony Pugliese of the Pugliese Development Company claiming mismanagement of the Destiny project and misuse of project funding for personal use. On September 29, 2009, Anthony Pugliese and Fred DeLuca entered into an Agreed Order whereby Pugliese agreed to "temporarily relinquish control" of the project. In December 2009, Pugliese filed a five billion dollar lawsuit against DeLuca for fraudulent financial practices associated with creating loans for the Destiny project. In April 2010, Osceola County postponed further development of the comprehensive plan due to the state opposition and the court litigation. In June 2016, a judge ordered Pugliese pay $13 million to DeLuca's estate. Further court rulings raised that sum to over $20 million by 2018.

DeLuca Preserve

In late 2020, a section of land formerly intended for the project was donated by Fred DeLuca's widow Elisabeth to the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

under the provision that it remain preserved in its undeveloped state. Under the conditions of the donation,

Ducks Unlimited Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. History and profile In 1927, an offshoot of the Boone and ...

has been given the responsibility to enforce the

conservation easement In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified land conservation organization called a "land trust", or a governmental (muni ...

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.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110202125817/http://destinyfl.com/ {{authority control Proposed populated places in the United States Unincorporated communities in Osceola County, Florida Planned communities in Florida Unincorporated communities in Florida