Youngquist Brothers Rock Mine Sells For SWLF Record $620M

A $620 million land deal believed to be the most lucrative in Southwest Florida history became official Oct. 28, as about 2,000 acres, including an active rock mine, changed ownership.

Alico Road LLC sold a combined 23 properties, according to public records, to Martin Marietta North Texas Cement Inc., with the deal closing on Oct. 23rd.

The land is located on the east and west side of Alico Road in southeast Lee County, from Corkscrew Road on the north to where Alico Road begins bending toward the west.

No brokers were involved in the deal, said Brett Youngquist, 41, and the son of Harvey Youngquist, who has owned and developed the land over the past quarter century. Harvey Youngquist, owner of Youngquist Brothers, declined to comment, deferring to his youngest son.

“We’ve been in talks with Martin Marietta over the past few months,” Brett Youngquist said. “We finally reached an agreement five or six weeks ago. It was just an extremely efficient and smooth transaction process."

“The family’s been in the Alico Corkscrew corridor since I was born. It’s really part of who the family is. Emotionally, we’re extremely grateful to bring Martin Marietta in as a steward of the area. They’re a great company. We’re excited to turn the quarry operations over to them."

“I think the biggest thing is the family is extremely grateful to be able to do business in Lee County. We’re grateful to get this transaction completed with Martin Marietta.”

Chase Mayhugh, a broker with Mayhugh Commercial Advisors, was not involved with the deal, but he has worked with Youngquist in the past. He spoke with Harvey Youngquist, who gave him details of the deal.

In addition to the land transactions, Youngquist also sold the mining equipment, Mayhugh said. The public records contained just the prices of the land, not the equipment. If included, the price approached $1 billion, Mayhugh said.

The equipment included a mining machine nicknamed “Lady of the Lake,” which measures 300 feet long and can produce 100,000 cubic yards of material per day.

But even with the price of that machine not included in the land deal, the deal stands out as the single biggest in Southwest Florida history, he said.

“It is by far the largest deal we’ve ever seen, as far as our records, going back,” Mayhugh said. “We went back to the 1990s.”

Mayhugh said Southwest Florida’s rapid growth helped boost the rock mine’s value.

“They were really after what the material was in the mine,” Mayhugh said. “Which is limestone. Limestone is a key ingredient in concrete. And it’s also used for road base.

“To fuel that growth, you need concrete. You need building materials. You need roads. We’re expanding roads right now. So, the value of what’s in the ground in this place is ungodly. It’s unbelievable.”

He said this transaction could trigger more in the near future.

“We have a lot more eyeballs on us now,” Mayhugh said. “We’re seeing a lot more institutional money coming in. Whether it’s buying up real estate assets or developing. You’re also going to see rock mines and quarries and there’s a lot of money that.”