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Article Courtesy of The
Herald-Tribune
By Michael Scott Davidson
Published June 19, 2016
NORTH PORT - When General Development Corporation built the
North Port Golf and Country Club in 1970, it was celebrated as a sign that the
young city could support the same prosperous attractions as neighboring Venice
and Sarasota.
Although the course changed owners over the years, its manicured grounds
continued to appeal to those who desired, as one real estate website described,
"elegant country club living."
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"It was beautiful,"
recalled Rhonda Cope, who's lived on nearby Pocatella Avenue
since 2003. "It was the way it should be, the way you expected
it to be."
Today the course is so overgrown with vegetation that it is
barely recognizable. Grass and weeds jut through cracks lining
the paved walkways between holes.
"It's reverting to old Florida," nearby resident Kenneth Koslow
said. "Birds are dropping seeds. Crabgrass is growing. Things
are sprouting up everywhere."
These grounds haven't been cared for since a closure notice
appeared on the clubhouse's door in May 2015. Charlotte Golf
Partners' plans to rebuild and rebrand the course featuring
replicas of signature holes from the nation's most iconic
courses vanished with an unpaid bank loan. |
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The clubhouse at Sabal Trace Golf & Country Club in North
Port was built in 1972. The grounds haven't been cared for since a
closure notice appeared on the clubhouse door in May 2015.
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Now the course may get a second life. GNP Development
Partners of Tampa wants to buy the property's mortgage note from Wells Fargo.
But there's one major catch: the company says it only has a budget to build an
executive course half the size of the current one.
In addition to a nine-hole course, a new aqua driving range and a new clubhouse,
Mark Gerenger of GNP Development Partners said he envisions building 200 to 300
single-family homes and some ponds on the approximate 9-million-square-foot
property.
“It's all we can afford to do, but it's a very generous offer,” he said. “It's
not feasible to maintain or put together an 18-hole golf course.”
That's because the golf course is mired in liens, overdue taxes and money owed
to a former engineer, Gerenger said.
While the Sarasota County Property Appraiser's website listed the property and
its buildings having an assessed value of $1,673,650 in 2015, Gerenger estimates
it could cost up to $4 million to buy the course from Wells Fargo and pay the
associated debts.
It would take another $2 million to build an executive course, and there would
be a recurring monthly $30,000 cost to keep the property's grass and vegetation
up to par with city code, Gerenger said.
“It makes for slim margins,” he said. “That's what's dangerous about it, but we
feel we can control it.”
GNP Development Partners specializes in buying foreclosed properties, and then
investing the money necessary to mitigate their problems. Gerenger said they
have a track record of success in the Florida Keys, Orlando and Seattle.
“This is what we do,” he said. “The more problems, the better it is.”
Gerenger said he hopes to close on the property by the end of July. His company
will immediately start repairing and maintaining the grounds. After that,
construction on the golf course and its amenities could start within six months.
But before any of that happens, he wants the OK from the Sabal Trace Homeowners
Alliance.
The alliance represents the interests of the approximate 1,200 residents living
in neighborhoods around the golf course, treasurer and former city commissioner
Jim Blucher said.
“Obviously we'd still like to work out a deal that we'd get an 18-hole golf
course,” he said.
Blucher said the alliance is currently collecting data to determine how its
members feel about Gerenger's plan. He and the alliance's president, Jim Glass,
will meet with GNP Development Partners soon.
Regardless of the negotiation's outcome, its a favorable sign that an outside
company is interested in the defunct golf course. City commissioners have been
slow to discuss whether North Port should buy it.
“In this last year it's the farthest we've gotten,” Blucher said. |
