Gladys Douglasâ 44-acre oasis ânow owned by the people foreverâ
Dunedin closed on the $10 million purchase Thursday. The land was headed for housing development last year.
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Dozens of activists and city officials celebrate on Thursday, May 13, 2021, the day Dunedin closed its $10 million purchase of the 44-acre Gladys Douglas property at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Keene Road. [ MENGSHIN LIN | Times ]
Updated May 14
They met near the bank of the freshwater lake that Gladys Douglas loved so much and clinked glasses of champagne in amazement over what theyâd just pulled off.
Pinellas County Commissioners, activists and others whoâve agonized over the fate of these 44 acres watched on Thursday evening as Dunedin officials signed a mock deed to celebrate the cityâs official purchase of the land for a public park.
Dunedin officials expect to close on 44-acre Gladys Douglas land Thursday
Local officials and activists will meet at the Keene Road and Virginia Avenue corner of the property at 5 p.m. Thursday to wave signs thanking the public for raising $4.5 million towards the purchase.
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The city of Dunedin expects to close on Thursday on its $10 million purchase of 44 acres formerly owned by the late philanthropist Gladys Douglas. The city plans to preserve it as a park. The property, located at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Keene Road in Pinellas County, was almost sold to a housing developer last year. [ SCOTT KEELER | Times ]
$10 million goal met to save 44 acres in Pinellas from development
City of Dunedin and Pinellas County will present a purchase agreement to the Gladys Douglas estate on Thursday.
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Officials gathered at Dunedin City Hall on Monday to announce the $10 million needed to buy the 44-acre Gladys Douglas property had been raised. From left to right: city manager Jennifer Bramley, county administrator Barry Burton, Mayor Julie Ward Bujalski, Pinellas Community Foundation CEO Duggan Cooley, Suncoast Sierra Club conservation chair Kira Barrera, resident Nichole Mattheus, former mayor Bob Hackworth. [ Tracey McManus ]
The former Dunedin mayor was frustrated that city and county officials had failed to act on earlier interest in 44 acres of environmentally-sensitive woods left by his late stepmother Gladys Douglas. By then, a housing developer was closing in on one of the last green spaces in the most densely populated county in the state.
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