"The funding through the DeSantis Administration, approved shortly after the governor's reelection, expedited the project by more than a decade, according to state documents," the Post journalists report. "Hosseini plans to develop the land — which includes a sensitive watershed once targeted for conservation by the state — into approximately 1300 dwelling units and 650,000 square feet of nonresidential use, including an outdoor village shopping district."

Government records, they add, "show a steady relationship between DeSantis and Hosseini in recent years."

"The governor's office occasionally received requests for DeSantis to attend events or support proposals from Hosseini," Scherer, Arnsdorf and Dawsey explain, "and DeSantis extended invitations to Hosseini in return for events in Tallahassee…. In the 2022 campaign cycle, companies controlled by Hosseini gave at least $361,000 to political groups that benefited the DeSantis reelection campaign, according to state campaign finance records. Hosseini's plane has been repeatedly used by DeSantis, according to a Post analysis."

Hosseini's project has raised environmental concerns. Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, an ex-Republican turned Democrat who ran against DeSantis in 2022 and lost by 19 percent, adamantly opposed the project.

In an op-ed published by the Dayton Beach News-Journal on August 12, 2022, Crist argued, "This is a project Florida does not need and is one the community does not want — the state should not keep pushing for it. Powerful developers want the interchange so they can more easily build on nearby land they own."