Back in December, we reported on Disney’s monumental, 965-acre land purchase through the acquisition of BK Ranch, just southeast of Celebration, for $23 million.

Now it turns out that Disney has purchased even more land adjacent to the plot: a whopping 1,500+ acres to the east of BK Ranch.

Per GrowthSpotter, the land was owned by the descendants of legendary cattle rancher Oren Brown, who refused to sell Disney his land during the park’s initial construction. Oren brown died in 1993. Most of the remaining ranch property was sold on January 3rd, 2019 for 11 million dollars.

As with the BK Ranch land, this land will most likely be used for water conservation and wetland mitigation. That being said, the need for more land for these purposes would indicate further expansion inside the existing Walt Disney World property.

In an interview with GrowthSpotter, John Adams, a partner with Central Florida Land Advisors stated:

“The BK Ranch was entitled for 3,000 homes. There were no entitlements on this property, and that was reflected in the sales price.”

So that explains why the cost was far lower compared to the BK Ranch, which had been rezoned for a master-planned, mixed-use development and had active permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District.

Whether or not Disney will choose to develop whatever areas it can after the purchase is a toss-up, but we trust they will do what is right for the environment.