N.C. State University officials are negotiating with a potential buyer for the 80,000-acre Hofmann Forest, a research site near Jacksonville that university officials hope to convert to cash to help support the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources.
College dean Mary Watzin and Brenda Brickhouse, chairman of the board for the Natural Resources Foundation, sent a letter to faculty members and others last week saying they had identified a prospective buyer for the forest, which is valued at between $120 million and $150 million.
The letter states that Natural Resources Foundation board members considered multiple offers for the site and “found that at least one offer generally meets the price and other key terms and conditions.
Watzin declined to name the potential buyer or the asking price until a contract is signed, but said she is optimistic about the proposal. “We are not asking for additional offers,” Watzin said.
Among the university’s conditions for a sale is retaining the Hofmann name. The forest was named in honor of Julius Hofmann, founding chairman of the N.C. State forestry department, now the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. The property in Onslow and Jones counties was purchased in the 1930s under Hofmann’s guidance for use “as a forestry laboratory, demonstration area and as a source of revenue.”
From NewsObserver.com: https://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/26/2850161/nc-state-in-negotiations-with.html