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Article
Courtesy of The Herald-Tribune By
Christi Womack Published
May 31, 2015
NORTH PORT - Ambitious plans to turn a prominent South County golf course into a
tourist destination featuring replicas of famous golf holes have come to a halt.
Notices posted on the door of Sabal Trace Golf & Country Club and on its website
announced the closing effective May 12.
The 200 paid club members
received notification via email, and more than 800 homeowners in
neighborhoods adjacent to the property are wondering what will
happen now to a place that in the 1970s was the North Port
Country Club, the crown jewel of the city.
“Nobody around here or in government knows what's going on at
this point,” said former North Port Mayor Jim Blucher, a former
golf club member who lives in the Villas of Sabal Trace.
Back in 2001, when there was a previous issue with course
ownership, Blucher said the neighborhoods formed the Sabal Trace
Homeowners Alliance. They are reconvening next week to talk
about a course of action.
Residents are wondering if the course is merely closing for the
summer or going into bankruptcy or foreclosure, he said. The
course owner, Charlotte Golf Partners, apparently could not
renegotiate the terms of a loan with Wells Fargo.
Late last year, Charlotte Golf
Partners announced it would close the public course in April,
but it was to be temporary, making way for a new clubhouse, the
18-hole course to be redone and rebranded as Valente at Sabal
Trace, and for site work for 280 new homes. |
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Golfers played the Sabal Trace Golf & Country Club course on Dec. 4,
2014. Despite plans to turn the golf course into a tourist destination
featuring replicas of famous golf holes, the certain thing, as of May
12, is that the course is closed. A notice posted at the course blamed
the closure on the owners' lender, saying the lender would not work
them. “We will continue to explore other potential avenues to try and
salvage this project,” the owners wrote.
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Half of the new course's holes were planned to be licensed replicas of those at
places such as Augusta National, Muirfield Village, Bay Hill and Oakland Hills.
It was supposed to be completed by January 2016.
North Port planning division officials said the company submitted an application
to the city to proceed with the course, but talks with the developer stopped.
“I just hope they maintain it and not let it get run over with weeds,” said John
Dicker, a golf club member who is vice president of The Colony at Sabal Trace
Homeowners Association.
Dicker organized a Wednesday morning golf league at the course, regularly
drawing 18 teams of four players each for players living in his condominium.
“During the course of the season, we played 1,150 rounds of golf,” he said.
Dicker paid $2,850 for a 12-month family membership in December. He did the
math; he said he broke even monetarily, but lost seven months of golf.
He does not know if he will get a refund and has not heard back from the course
owners other than to say the grass will continue to be mowed.
Dicker and Blucher said some club members are talking about hiring an attorney
to find out about their options.
Charlotte Golf Partners purchased the property in January 2002 from Club Corp.
In 1970, General Development Corp. built the Charles Ankrom-designed Par 72
course that is 6,755 yards long. Formerly known as North Port Country Club, the
clubhouse was built in 1972.
Signature Golf, which is the parent company of Charlotte Golf Partners, has
bought under-performing golf courses for revitalization since the 1990s. It also
owns The Links of Naples in Naples and The Cove in Englewood. Those properties
are open for business.
Messages left Monday for one of the Charlotte Golf Partners owners, the regional
director of operations and the director of golf were not returned. |
