| Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach County has called itself “Florida’s Golf Capital” for more than 20 years, even solidifying its status with a trademark.
To maintain that claim, in the face of country clubs that struggle with keeping membership and fending off development pressure, the county may approve a change in its code to let country clubs build hotels on site.
Boca Lago Golf & Country Club is requesting this code change “to provide an alternative source of revenue” to prevent “the closure of a non-profitable golf course,” county documents say.
While the proposal specifically addresses Boca Lago, situated on the northwest corner of Palmetto Park Road and Florida’s Turnpike, the code change, if approved, may apply to other planned unit developments with golf courses in suburban Palm Beach County, with the location of the future hotel limited to the development’s commercial area, explained Jeff Brophy, an agent with WGI representing Boca Lago.
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“What’s a way that we can continue to subsidize the club without just closing golf holes, selling them off as a Band-Aid effect until the next holes close?” Brophy said. “That’s where the use of a hotel came up.”
The request got its first approval on Thursday. The proposal will return before Palm Beach County commissioners at a later date.
“This is big,” said Commissioner Maria Marino, who is a professional golfer. “I’d like to see anything we can do to maintain golf as an economic driver in our county. It is our responsibility to do that.”
Boca Lago, which today has three nine-hole golf courses, opened in 1975 as an equity club, Brophy said, meaning members owned a stake in the club. When membership declined, the residents voted to become a private non-equity club.
“That was really very harmful,” Brophy said. “It’s these non-equity clubs that are the ones that are going under.”
The country club “continues to lose millions of dollars on an annual basis because of the inability to maintain that membership,” he added.
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The proposed code change could also apply to Aberdeen west of Boynton Beach, Boca West and Cypress Lakes near West Palm Beach.
“We know what’s been happening over the last 15 to 20 years as those golf courses have either closed in part or the entirety,” Brophy said. “We’re going to see a continuation of that trend.”
Boca Lago closed part of one of its golf courses for a developer in 2017 to build 130 townhomes.
Two years later, county commissioners unanimously approved a request to build 436 residential units on the closed 110-acre golf course at Villa Del Ray.
At the beginning of 2020, the first residents moved into Polo Trace’s golf course turned housing development built on 150-acre golf course west of Delray Beach.
Last December, Mizner Trail Golf Club west of Boca Raton was sold to a real estate company for $33.3 million. The property was approved six years ago for the construction of 252 residences, but the project never saw the light of day.
The idea to boost country club revenues through hotel stays isn’t a novel idea, Brophy said, pointing to two examples within Palm Beach County municipalities. PGA National Golf Course in Palm Beach Gardens, which was built in 1981, has seen success with its 339-room hotel, and Banyan Cay Resort & Golf Club in West Palm Beach is set to open a 150-room Hyatt hotel this year to bolster the club.
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“We’re not about to put up a $20 million hotel unless we think it’s going to work,” Brophy said. “We’re just trying to put another tool in their toolbox to keep that club open.”
Yet attaching a hotel to a golf course must take careful consideration, as it can be a costly, time-consuming and risky venture, said Shai Zelering, a managing director at Brookfield’s Real Estate Group who represents the owners of PGA National.
“I think it’s the wrong cure for the disease,” he said.
The five-course golf resort in Palm Beach Gardens may be in a league of its own, being attached to a national brand and hosting the annual Honda Classic. The resort is pouring $100 million into renovating its facilities and buys existing golf courses to build its portfolio.
But smaller, individual country clubs with one to three courses opening up to the public with a hotel may create an oversupply of golf resorts and further drive down membership.
What may be more beneficial to these clubs, Zelering said, is partnering with other clubs to create a broader membership to save costs and create economies of scale.
“Membership is about exclusivity,” he said. “It’s a very delicate balance to satisfy both the transient business and the members.”
Also at Thursday’s zoning meeting, commissioners approved:
- A request to redesign a 7-Eleven gas station on the northeast corner of Military Trail and Lantana Road near Atlantis, expanding the convenience store and allowing for 24-hour operation.
- A luxury car storage facility where members can “store and showcase their vehicles with the intent of a ‘country club’ atmosphere” as well as sales. The site is on a 10.5-acre plot of land south of Ranch House Road and east of Congress Avenue near West Palm Beach.
hmorse@pbpost.com