Sports complex’s move faces deadline
Wellington neighbors must pay $2.5M in fees
WELLINGTON – A former NFL player has agreed to build a $38 million sports complex in Village Park instead of Wellington Community Park if a group of homeowners come up with $2.5 million by next week.
Residents from Mallet Hill and Southfields neighborhoods and Wellington Lifestyle Partners, the company set to build two luxury communities in the equestrian preserve and a new horse center to replace Equestrian Village, offered to pay for the costs for Jon Bostic’s development team to relocate Wellington Sports Academy away from South Shore Boulevard.
All cited concerns that the complex would add to traffic on South Shore, a road that runs through the equestrian area west of the Mall at Wellington Green. Village Park lies about 2 miles east of Wellington Community Park.
Kaitlin Guerin, an attorney representing Bostic’s team, told the Village Council on Tuesday that her team had negotiated with the homeowners for eight months and cut in half its $5 million asking price to $2.5 million.
Village Manager Jim Barnes told council members that the homeowners had fallen short by $250,000. Guerin, however, argued in favor of giving the group more time to commit the funds.
“I’d like to get this over the finish line,” Guerin said during the meeting.
The village council voted to change its agreement with Bostic to relocate the athletics complex but gave the property owners until April 19 to donate the full $2.5 million.
Village Mayor Michael Napoleon said it would be a win to move the project to Village Park, next to the new aquatics center, but added that the village would allow Bostic to start building on South Shore if the homeowners miss their deadline.
“We’ve been waiting too long for this to happen,” Napoleone said. “And the time is up.”
The $32 million “all-in-one” Wellington Sports Academy will be the village’s first public-private partnership. Bostic grew up in Wellington and played football at Palm Beach Central High School and the University of Florida before moving on to the NFL, where he played linebacker for several teams over 10 seasons.