Officials Probe $1 Billion Land Purchases Near Air Base

Air Force officials are investigating a series of land acquisitions amounting to nearly $1 billion near a major air base in California, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal found that over the past five years, investment group Flannery Associates has become the largest landowner in Solano County after purchasing nearly $1 billion worth of land.

An attorney for the company told the newspaper that it's controlled by American citizens and that 97% of the firm's capital comes from U.S. investors, with the remainder coming from British and Irish investors. Local and federal officials said they have yet to uncover the identities of Flannery's investors.

The company previously told Solano County that it "is owned by a group of families looking to diversify their portfolio from equities into real assets, including agricultural land in the western United States." 

Records show Flannery purchased large parcels of land near Travis Air Force Base, including several areas directly next to the base that houses the largest wing of the Air Mobility Command, which the Air Force uses for refueling and transporting military personnel and supplies.

"We don't know who Flannery is, and their extensive purchases do not make sense to anybody in the area," Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee's readiness panel, told the Journal. "The fact that they're buying land purposefully right up to the fence at Travis raises significant questions."

Said county supervisor Mitch Mashburn: "The majority of the land they're purchasing is dry farmland. I don't see where that land can turn a profit to make it worth almost a billion dollars in investment."

Flannery's attorney added that "any speculation that Flannery's purchases are motivated by the proximity to Travis Air Force Base" is unfounded.

A spokesperson for Travis told the Journal that officials at the base and other Air Force offices "are aware of the multiple land purchases near the base and are actively working internally and externally with other agencies."

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