In 2006, his team put that belief in motion and purchased Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida—an area five times the size of Manhattan.

“Soon after, we sold 73,000 acres back to Florida to be preserved for future generations,” says Kitson.

They then set out to do what no one has done before: build a profitable community that works hand in hand with Mother Nature.

For his ingenuity and his efforts, Kitson was named Time magazine’s “Dreamer of the Year” in 2023.

The road to get here hasn’t always been easy, he admits. “To future ‘innovators,’ if you are going to do something unprecedented, be prepared for rejection.”