Golf Course Update

At the 11/27 meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District (GBRBPD) executive director Art Koski provided an update on the acquisition of the closed Ocean Breeze golf course in which the District has a contract to buy with a final closing date of January 26, 2018.  Due to complications with the city financing the District is currently working on negotiating an extension for the closing to late Feb. or March 2018.

The city is planing to provide financing of the $24 million purchase price with the 2nd meeting for the Interlocal agreement scheduled for the 1/23/18 meeting of the city council.  Subsequently the council will need 2 meetings for approving the borrowing of funds which would put the final funding into late February 2018.  Mr. Koski is confident that Wells Fargo and Lennar (current owners and controlling parties of the golf course property) will be cooperative in the request for the extension of time to complete the closing of this transaction.

The GBRBPD has already started the planning for the property renovation by issuing an RFP to golf course architects which will be opened on 12/20/17 at the offices of the District at Sugar Sand Park.  It is expected to take 6-7  months for planning after the closing before construction on the property will begin.  With an estimated 12 months for construction on the renovation this will closely mirror the timeline for the closing of the current municipal golf course which is being sold to GL Homes for approximately $65 million.  This should result in a nice windfall to the taxpayers of Boca Raton, but the city has not revealed their plans for the use of these proceeds.

The next meeting of the GBRBPD on 12/4 at 5:15pm at Sugar Sand park may be interesting since they are discussing how to purchase the property that has historically been the social center and hotel at the SE corner of Jeffrey St. and NW 2nd Ave.  Do residents prefer a 150 room hotel or a community center that is available to all residents of the city?