His hand forced by a failing economy, Gov. Charlie Crist is poised to dramatically downsize his proposed Big Sugar buyout -- and his vision for Everglades restoration.

The new agreement with the U.S. Sugar Corp., which Crist hinted Wednesday could come within days, is intended to salvage a massive land purchase the governor and environmentalists call essential to restoring the struggling River of Grass. But it will come in a smaller size and at a cheaper price that won't bankrupt the state agency footing the bill.

Final details and figures remain fluid. But sources close to the negotiations said that instead of paying $1.34 billion for all 180,000 acres owned by U.S. Sugar, the revised deal will be closer to $500 million for 75,000 acres, with wiggle room in both land and price.

The overhaul, hammered out during weeks of negotiations in Tallahassee, confirms what critics of the controversial deal had charged for months and supporters had begun to acknowledge: The price tag had simply become too high for a state with staggering budget shortfalls, rising unemployment and plummeting property values and tax revenues.

''I think everyone has looked at the numbers and realized the affordability is a problem in this current economy,'' said Eric Buermann, chairman of the South Florida Water Management District's governing board, which had planned to bankroll the deal with bonds.

The district, which draws much of its annual budget from property taxes in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and 13 other counties where property values have fallen at least 14 percent, has warned for months that the estimated $100 million in annual debt payments could gut its other ''core missions,'' including flood protection.

Environmentalists are awaiting specifics, but many know that a deal some billed as ''the holy grail'' was on life support. Restoration plans call for converting farm fields into reservoirs and pollution treatment marshes to resolve problems that have dogged the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee for decades -- catching more water, cleaning it and flowing it south into the marsh.

''I don't think anyone wanted to stand up and announce the deal is dead, but the fact of the matter is, valuations in South Florida have tumbled to such a degree that financially it's not doable,'' said Nathaniel Reed, vice chairman of the Everglades Foundation, an environmental group that had championed the landmark purchase.

Crist, the architect of the proposal that would cement his ''green governor'' reputation, provided no specifics, saying only, ''I may have something for you in a few days.'' Robert Coker, a U.S. Sugar vice president, refused to confirm any deal had been struck and referred questions to Crist's office.

Company executives long warned they had cut a ''take-it-or-leave-it'' deal, but more recently signaled they were open to ''creative'' solutions.

''Our company has been working very closely with the governor's office and water management district,'' Coker said. ``I am confident we will continue to move forward.''

Sources with knowledge of the working deal say it includes other key provisions to address concerns raised by rival growers, who have attacked the deal as a bailout of debt-ridden U.S. Sugar.

The deal calls for U.S. Sugar, the state's oldest and largest grower, to remain in business, farming and running its Clewiston mill and railroad. The company could continue using the 75,000 acres under a 10-year lease -- but for a fee close to market rates, not the $50-an-acre annual cost in the original proposal that rivals had blasted as unfair. The company, however, could continue to consider bids for its remaining land and assets.

Water managers would also retain options to buy more land in the future, keeping open the possibility of environmentalists' goal of at least 100,000 acres.

The new deal, which would acquire three-quarters of that amount at almost a third the previous price, also would eliminate complications and concerns about selling or swapping U.S. Sugar's remaining land.

The region's other major grower, Florida Crystals, which owns a prime spot necessary to recreate the ''missing link'' between the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee, had been in negotiations with both U.S. Sugar and the governor as a potential third party. The new agreement appears to have been sealed without them.

''We've been in conversations on and off for nine months, but there is nothing concrete to report,'' said Gaston Cantens, a vice president for Florida Crystals.

It will be the second time Crist has scaled back the original blockbuster proposal he made last June to buy out the company for $1.75 billion -- land, lock, stock and sugar sack. In October, citing Wall Street and credit market woes, he trimmed it back to a land-only purchase.

Water district chairman Buermann, who said he was not privy to any details of the negotiations, said no one could have predicted the state's severe economic slide.

''A lot has happened in a short period of time,'' he said.

Miami Herald staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report.

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