FPL Buys Osceola Property
Local News Staff 
Florida Power & Light Company has paid $212 million for the 40,000-acre El Maximo Ranch in south Osceola County's Kissimmee River Valley, which has the potential to house Florida's largest solar farm array.
The rural ranch, which stretches from State Road 60 to the Osceola-Okeechobee county line in southwest Osceola, was once part of a 150,000-acre cattle operation run by the iconic Florida rancher Latt Maxcy.
"FPL is continually evaluating how to provide cost-effective solutions to meet the growing energy needs of our customers," spokesman Jack Eble told
GrowthSpotter. "Land the company acquires could be used in a variety of ways, including infrastructure needs and power generation such as solar. We are very early in the process of determining the potential uses at this location."
The 62.5 square miles of land was sold over two transactions in 2018 to the Investment Corporation of Dubai in 2018 for $144.4 million and was operated by its subsidiary, Generation Farms. The new owners kept the
"El Maximo" name to honor the history of the ranch that had been run by the same family for four generations and added new crops such as potato, broccoli, tomato and watermelon while also planning for the possibility of a solar farm on the property.
