Harbor Group's investments grow with Suffolk farmland

SUFFOLK

Real estate investment company Harbor Group International has tried its hand at investing and managing all sorts of real estate from office buildings to apartment communities.

Now it's added farmland to that list.

The Norfolk-based company announced Tuesday that an affiliate had spent $1.6 million to buy 230 acres of agricultural land in Suffolk at the intersection of Pitchkettle Road and U.S. 58.

Harbor Group purchased the land from Compass Bank, which repossessed the property in June 2010.

The previous owner, Lake Meade 140 LP, purchased the acreage for $7.8 million in 2005 with the intent of developing it. Lake Meade had the land rezoned for a variety of uses, including housing, a retirement community and office and industrial structures, Harbor Group said in a news release.

For now, the property will remain as farmland for cotton and soybeans.

"Our plan is to keep it as a farm and one day, if the market comes back for housing, we'll always listen to proposals," said Jordan E. Slone, Harbor Group's chairman and CEO. "We have it rented to the farmer. We're content to just sit with it and see what happens."

The city assesses the property for real estate tax purposes at $12.6 million.

In recent years, Harbor Group has focused its investments primarily in office buildings and apartment communities. This purchase is the company's first foray into agricultural land. It's not likely to be the last, Slone said.

"We have a new initiative with our company to buy distressed assets from banks," he said. "We're looking at other, not only farms, but other busted developments - developments that have crashed as a result of the housing bust."

Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com