Wed. January. 10 2007 6:47 PM ET
Votes were tallied at a Florida trailer park on Wednesday and the result said that 500 property owners, including a group from Ontario, chose to become millionaires by selling out to a developer.
The US$510 million deal from a land developer was accepted by the residents of Briny Breezes trailer park in Palm Beach County.
Applause reportedly rang out in a large Quonset hut erected in the park as the owners voted 82 per cent in favour of the multi-million dollar offer. Each person who owns a trailer is slated to receive just over US$1 million in two years when the deal is completed.
Briny Breezes' 43-acre property is surrounded by high-end condominiums and beach front properties. Boca Raton-based Ocean Land Investments plans to build more condos on the site that will sell for around US$3 million each.
Ocean Land Investments sees the patch of land as a big investment.
"The prime piece of real estate in Florida and perhaps in the south-east (United States)," developer Logan Pierson said after the vote.
The deal will make a group of school teachers from Port Colborne unexpectedly wealthy. About 15 years ago they each bought properties at Briny Breezes as a place to escape the Canadian winter.
"My initial investment was around $50,000," George Huber said earlier this month. Wednesday's vote result means he will cash in for about $1.2 million.
Briny Breezes is a corporation and each of the owners hold shares. For that reason they had to vote on whether they would accept the deal.
The final tally was:
- 12,556 Yes;
- 2,691 No; and
- 456 Did not vote
With a report from CTV's Tom Hayes