Article Courtesy of  The Daytona Beach News-Journal

By Bob Koslow

Published March 5, 2015

PALM COAST -- Palm Coast developer Jim Cullis has filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the new owners of the shuttered Matanzas Woods Golf Course.

The 277-acre, 18-hole golf course along Lakeview Boulevard, in Palm Coast’s north end, has been closed since 2007.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, Cullis accuses Jacksonville-based The Group Golf of Palm Coast LLC of failing to pay the $166,750 balance of the property’s mortgage, which was due Dec. 10.

The Jacksonville group agreed to buy the property in October from similarly named The Golf Group of Palm Coast LLC — a group of local investors — making an initial $100,000 cash payment when the deal closed on Oct. 2, according to court records.

When buyers failed to pay off the balance owed as scheduled, the sellers on Jan. 30 assigned the mortgage to Cullis, who declined to say how much he paid, other than “at a slight discount.”

“I was approached by the original seller, Golf Group of Palm Coast, to purchase the note,” Cullis wrote in an email. “They obviously preferred not to go through the motions of foreclosure. We are fine if we hold for investment and eventually get paid back or if we end up owning the property.”

Cullis – president of Palm Coast-based Grand Haven Properties – said he has long had an interest in the property. He signed a letter of intent to buy it in late 2013. He said he backed away from that deal after neighboring residents opposed his concept plan to build about 100 homes on some of the land and leaving the rest for a park as opposed to reopening the entire site as a golf course.

“We don’t have any specific plans for the property, but would not mind owning it. We believe the site has potential. Still, we believe the owners will pay off the note prior to foreclosure,” Cullis wrote.

Renovating the property to reopen the golf course would take a couple million dollars and the market would not support that kind of investment, said Rich Stanfield, a former manager of the Palm Coast-owned Palm Harbor Golf Course, member of the Flagler County Tourist Development Council and a vice chairman of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce.

“That market is saturated with courses. Palm Harbor struggled when I ran it from 2010 into 2014.” said Stanfield, who works for Billy Casper Golf. “The golf industry is losing 8 to 11 percent of its players each year, primarily from age. Golf is not attracting the younger players.”

The Matanzas Woods Golf Course owner, Stephen “Matt” Richardson and attorney Michael Yonkan, both of Jacksonville, did not immediately return calls for comment.