Gumshoeing it around Chancellorsville

It's been at least 10 years since I filed an actual news story with an actual news outlet but the gumshoes are back on again. I have calls and emails in to the principals in the deal between Tricord, Mullins and other parties in the Chancellorsville Battlefield deal.

Although I have deferred to the Free-Lance Star in their assertion that CWPT is buying 140 acres from Tricord for $3 million, I have not yet found any independent verification of this. In communicating with me and in their stories, they have given no source for this information.

My hunch is that an easement deal may have evolved into a sale; if you look at these early deal links, you see no hint that CWPT is buying 140 acres from Tricord. Check this preservationist statement:

They [Tricord] are to be applauded for their generosity in setting aside 140 acres of the Mullins Farm for preservation...

Here is CWPT's letter to Spotsylvania allies: it has the same passage as the one above.

Note the language in this story (scroll to page 4):

... talks began that resulted in an agreement that permits Tricord to build age restricted housing on 87 acres of the farm in exchange for the protection of the remaining 140 acres. CWPT is contributing $3 million toward the purchase of the preserved land.

This is not a transaction in which CWPT is buying the land from Tricord. Something happened in the dynamics of this deal. Something is probably still happening.

I'll be in touch as soon as I find out what.