The Boca Country Club was just donated to the city. It’ll mean more golf for residents.

Article Courtesy of  The Sun Sentinel

By Austen Erblat

Published October 15, 2020

  

BOCA RATON — The owners of the Boca Country Club unveiled plans Wednesday to donate the 130-acre club to the city, an unusual move that will open the exclusive property to the public.

The club, at 17751 Boca Club Blvd., features an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, a clubhouse and pool. It is expected to become a public facility as early as October 2021 and will be available to all city residents and visitors.

Elected officials hailed the donation as a boon that will provide residents access to a championship golf course and other recreational activities. The City Council still needs to approve the donation and is expected to vote Oct. 14.

But not everyone looks forward to the deal. Herb Levy, a member of the homeowners association for Balboa Point, one of the 12 subdivisions of the Boca Country Club development, said he wasn’t happy.

“Our documents require that course to stay a private course, not open to the public,” Levy said. “There’s no security for our homes when it’s open to the public.”

The country club’s owners, MSD Partners and Northview Hotel Group, acquired the club in June 2019 when they bought the Boca Raton Resort and Club, a luxurious destination that’s situated off Camino Real and overlooks the Intracoastal Waterway.

Coburn Packard, partner and co-head of real estate at MSD Partners, said the owners decided to part with the club to focus on the Boca Resort and Club. They see the donation as a clear way of “supporting the greater Boca Raton community,” Packard said.

The owners didn’t elaborate on their reasoning. A country club spokesman said the country club wanted more Boca residents be able to play at that facility.

Boca City Councilman Andy Thomson couldn’t estimate the value of the country club, and the country club spokesman said he wasn’t at liberty to disclose it. He estimated that the club will cost a little over $1 million per year, a cost that could be covered, at least in part, by fees to play the course.

Responding to the security concern, Thomson said the layout of the development will prevent the public from accessing residential areas, only the golf facilities and any other areas the city takes ownership of.

The neighborhood’s subdivisions include single-family homes, two-story homes, townhomes, garden villas and luxury condominiums. Thomson said that he’ll reach out to residents in those areas to address any concerns they may have.

Membership to the country club is not required to live in the residential areas.

The club will continue to operate as it has for the next year, until paperwork is finalized, Thomson said. Once the city takes over, members will have preferential tee times.

“They’re going to get taken care of, so they’re not going to lose anything,” he said. “Everyone who uses it now is going to be in as good a position, if not better, once the city take it over.”

Over the course of the next year, the city will develop plans for management and operations for golf, tennis, aquatics, and the clubhouse, Boca Mayor Scott Singer told residents in an email Wednesday evening.

He said the city’s current municipal golf course, at 8111 Golf Course Road, is under contract for sale but still is operating. “It will likely stay open until Boca Country Club opens to the public, providing continuous access to public golf,” Singer wrote.

The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Parks District also has been developing plans to overhaul the former Ocean Breeze golf course at Boca Teeca. That may no longer happen.

“It is very possible that the District will choose not to move forward with building another golf course,” Singer wrote in his email.

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