The Land Deal

Over at the indispensable O’Malley Watch we get more details on the increasingly odiferous land deal in New Kent.

At more than $97,000 per acre, this “Open Space” purchase, is peculiar, because
right after you purchase the land, you are going to be asked to lease the land
back to an affiliate of the person you bought it from, giving them a tidy
profit. The was sold by CJ Langenfelder and Sons to its current owner,
Atchafayala Holdings, LLP, back in 2002 for $1.75 million and now Atchafayala is
trying to sell it to the State of Maryland for $7.9 million. And of course, two
assessments were done, and the State is paying the higher of the two
assessments. Nelson Reichart is probably rolling over in the unemployment line.

The Washington Post reports that two of the prime movers in this deal are not only officials in the O’Malley administration but have a vested, though maybe not illegal, interest in the deal moving forward.