Golf club offer in works

Boca district would pay $24M for Ocean Breeze

The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District is offering to buy the former Ocean Breeze Golf Club for $24 million to help the city, which has been working to acquire the property as it sells its municipal course.

In a unanimous vote, the district’s board on Monday sent a proposal for approval to the city to buy the course from Miamibased developer Lennar Homes. City officials were previously in talks with Lennar to swap Ocean Breeze for the Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course.

Ocean Breeze, located at 5801 NW Second Ave. in the Boca Teeca neighborhood, featured an 18-hole championship course and a 9-hole executive course.

Many residents urged the city to buy and reopen the course after it closed last summer due to declining revenue.

“My wife and I played there for many years,” said John Dalton, who moved to the neighborhood in 1995. “We would love to have it returned as a golf course so I can stop leaving my clubs in the trunk of my car.”

The offer is set to come before the city council Tuesday.

Mayor Susan Haynie said she supports the idea but expects some friction over the large price tag. A previous assessment valued Ocean Breeze as low as $4 million, but excluded the property’s commercial facilities.

“Our partner with providing recreation in our community has stepped up to not only want to take title to it, but they also want to restore it and operate it,” Mayor Susan Haynie said Monday.

Under the deal, the district would be charged with restoring

the 200-acre property, which the district’s Executive Director Arthur Koski estimated to cost an additional $8 million to $12 million while taking 15 to 18 months to complete. Despite the renovations, he said it is unclear how profitable the course would be versus the cost to maintain the facility.

Koski said the district will be able to pay for the project without having to reallocate funds. While it is a government entity separate from the city, the district is funded through taxes on city residents and those in a small portion of unincorporated area.

The collaboration to acquire the course comes as a test by the city and the district to improve previously tense relations amid postponed joint meetings and miscommunication. Upon approval by the city council, the district plans to meet with council members on Feb. 28 to work out financing options for the purchase.

City officials have yet to make a decision on the future of the 194-acre Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course as council members weigh three $73 million bids for the property, including one from Lennar.

Haynie said at a meeting last month that the decision will be “one of the biggest the city ever made.”

“How many opportunities as a community do you get to sell an asset outside of your city limits and gain $73 million?” Haynie said. “That’s pretty exciting and we can do a lot of wonderful things with those dollars.”