General Info:
Southern States Land & Timber LLC, a prime element of the South Florida economy since the early 1900's, once owned large real estate holdings in what are now Martin, Palm Beach, Indian River, Broward, Dade, Collier, Lee, Hendry, and Desoto counties. By the mid 1970's most of the company's land interests had been sold, except for reserved mineral interests in Palm Beach and Martin counties. From the early 1900's to the 1950's the company drained and reclaimed vast acreage and developed experimental and demonstration farms involving sugar cane, ramie, citrus and varieties of vegetables. Southern States was also instrumental in the eradication of the cattle tick and the development of the cattle industry. Today, Southern States is wholly owned by the J. M. Burgui res Companies, formed in 1877 by Jules M. Burgui res. Mr. Burgui res' son Jules, Jr., an early owner and later board member of Southern States was active in South Florida's economic development. In 1920 he was a founder of the predecessor organization to today's Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Development Board, and served as its first Chairman. In the 1920's he was a director of Central Farmers Trust Company in West Palm Beach. The J. M. Burgui res Companies are headquartered in Franklin, Louisiana. Southern States views its mineral interests and related surface access rights as a valuable long-term asset and has secured and preserved these rights in conformity with Florida law. Southern States' property interests are real and have value, just as the surface owner's rights have value. Notwithstanding this, Southern States wishes to promote and facilitate commerce and development. We therefore offer to property owners time sequential surface access waivers to assure current and future landowners the unfettered use and future marketability of their surface without Southern States' interference, while retaining the long-term mineral development potential.