Sunday, September 24, 2006

‘Save Our Recreation’ exploring options for closed golf course site

By PHILLIP BANTZ, pbantz@breezenewspapers.com

The pristine greens and manicured rolling fairways of The Golf Club have given way to weedy hills and overgrown fields since its August closure, but an effort by local Realtors, officials and business owners could possibly breathe new life into the property while preserving the Cape’s 45-year-old golf course.

A proposal that would develop hotels and condominiums on the 178-acre property while maintaining an 18-hole course, which would be handed over to the city, is currently being considered as a viable option for The Golf Club, said former Cape Coral mayor Joe Mazurkiewicz, now a consultant and representative of the non-profit group Save Our Recreation.

“To reduce the annual operating costs after development, we would give the golf course to the city and then enter into a long-term operational agreement with the city,” said Mazurkiewicz, adding that he’s had no official contact with city leaders and has not found a developer willing to carry the plan forward.

Currently, Save Our Recreation is a loosely organized group composed of numerous business owners and citizens, according to Chris Spiro of Spiro and Associates in Fort Myers.

“There’s a whole bevy of people that are involved in this endeavor,” he said.

Spiro and Associates is the marketing, advertising and public relations arm of BJM Consulting.

Mazurkiewicz, of BJM consulting, said the group still is weighing its options and waiting for a feasibility study before moving forward.

Save Our Recreation was formed shortly before The Golf Club on Palm Tree Boulevard shut its doors to ensure that “any future development of the property includes an 18-hole golf course,” said Mazurkiewicz.

Mounting debt prompted The Golf Club’s Aug. 1 closure after losing $3 million in five years.

The Lee County School District attempted to buy the property for the building site of five new schools in June 2005, but public outcry forced the district to withdraw its $26.1 million offer.

A limited liability partnership between The Gulf Club of Southwest LLC and Ryan LLC in early August formed Florida Gulf Ventures LLC. The joint venture recapitalized and remortgaged the club’s debt, said managing partner Scott Siler.

“There are no new partners, just partners that have taken a bigger piece of the action,” said Siler. “It’s the same guys. There are no new entities involved in this at all.”

Of the 400 properties that abut the course, fewer than 25 homeowners were members of The Golf Club, according to Siler.

“It wasn’t as if there was an outpouring of support for the place,” he said.

Alan Lynch, 50, has lived at 4306 Country Club Boulevard adjacent to the fifth hole for the past 16 years.

“It was a lifelong dream to live on a golf course,” said Lynch, who joined the club only once. “I just can’t play enough golf to get the $4,500 family membership out of it. I work every day of the week.”

A resident at Southeast 42nd Terrace, George Nixon’s home backs up to the ninth hole.

“In the five years that I’ve lived on the course, not once did a representative push a membership,” he said. “Nobody came knocking on my door to try and solicit my business, to try and sell me a membership. Business doesn’t walk to you. You’ve got to go get it.”

A golf professional for 26 years, Steve Anderson said the majority of public golf courses make a profit off development on the property, not golfers.

“You really just about break even on the green fees and memberships,” said Anderson, a PGA master professional at Mirror Lakes in Lehigh Acres. “It’s sad, but the only reason the golf course is there is to sell homes.”

According to Anderson, Southwest Florida ranks highest in the country when comparing the number of public courses, approximately 145, to the number of local golfers that reside between Lee and Collier counties.

“Generally speaking, it’s a tough road for a golf course to survive if they don’t have the potential to develop the land and sell lots of homes and property,” he said. “It’s very difficult.”

City council member Dolores Bertolini, whose district includes the course, said the city is unable to move forward with Save Our Recreation’s recommendations until the owners come forward with a plan development project.

“Until they come in with that, we can’t do anything,” she said. “They have to go through the process and that’s what we’re waiting for. But in the meantime, they need to keep the property in compliance.”

Club owners recently were found in violation of city ordinance after residents became concerned about the appearance of the course.

“I started to get complaints that it was overgrown and code enforcement went out, found the violations and they were cited,” Bertolini said. “Obviously we’re paying very close attention to it because we don’t want it to become a slum area.”

Siler said crews were out mowing the course Wednesday.

“We will make sure we adhere to the code,” he said.

A self-confessed “golf addict” who picked up a club at the age of 10, Lynch said that he’s for the contemplated upward development and remains hopeful that someday he will look out his window and see a reborn golf course.

“Remember when they used to have a motel there with 30 or 40 rooms? It was a profitable thing then and a good thing for the community,” he said. “It’s just disappointing looking out the window right now and seeing how it is ... they used to have the best greens in the county. There’s nothing more beautiful in my eyes than the nature of a golf course.”

Friday, September 01, 2006

Owner disputes Golf Club sale

Says Cape course ownership a 50-50 venture

By Don Ruane
druane@news-press.com
Originally posted on September 01, 2006

Despite what appears to be a $4 million sale of The Golf Club in February, managing partner Scott Siler said he still owns half of the course, with the other 50 percent belonging to a new company.

"It's a 50-50 joint venture," Siler said about The Golf Club of Southwest Florida LLC and newly formed Florida Gulf Venture LLC.

Siler stressed that the course remains for sale, he said.

The new corporation was formed as part of a financial restructuring plan to help control debt, he said.

A transfer of ownership for the 178-acre The Golf Club on Palm Tree Boulevard appeared to take place on Feb. 2, when Siler signed a deed to transfer the 18-hole course to Florida Gulf Venture LLC. The deed is recorded in the Lee County Clerk of Courts office.

The Golf Club closed on July 31 because of mounting debt. Siler said they lost $3 million over a five-year period.

He can't explain the February sale, saying it did not take place. "There is something goofy with that one," he said. "I have no idea what that is."

He said the establishment of Florida Gulf Venture, which he and some of the current club ownership group also are a part of, took place in early August.

The February transaction, mystified residents, who live around the course, and others by surprise.

"The club didn't notify people around here," said Southeast Ninth Court resident Maryann Burke. "I haven't even seen anybody looking at it."

Former Mayor Joe Mazurkiewicz, now a consultant and representative of a nonprofit group called Save Our Recreation, said he became aware of the transaction about four weeks ago, but hasn't been able to determine who is behind the deal.

Florida Gulf Venture registered with the Florida secretary of state on July 31 and with Delaware's division of corporations on June 5.

"We've not been able to contact the new owners," he said.

The sale price of $4 million is listed on the Lee County Property Appraiser's Internet site. But a mortgage recorded with the Lee County Clerk's office shows a $13.9 million amount on the property in the name of Florida Gulf Venture and signed by manager Kent Carlson of Rylan LLC. Siler said $13.9 million amount was a "new mortgage" established after the debt was paid.

"This all happened in the last three weeks," Siler said.

Rylan is listed as the manager of Florida Gulf Venture on incorporation papers on file in the Florida secretary of state's office. Rylan LLC is registered with the state of Delaware as of June 13, but a registration with Florida could not be found.

Carlson is also president of the southeast division of Ryan Companies US Inc, which is based in Minneapolis. The company announced the opening of the southeast division on June 29. The division is based at the same Tampa address as Florida Gulf Venture.

The company is no stranger to Lee County. Rylan Companies completed a distribution center for Robb & Stucky in Fort Myers and worked on the hurricane restoration of South Seas Resort on Captiva.

Carlson could not be reached for comment Thursday.

City Council members were puzzled by the last maneuvers.

Siler met this month with Councilwoman Dolores Bertolini and mentioned the possibility of recapitalizing.

"He never mentioned anything about the deed," Bertolini said. "I'm just surprised by all of this."

Bertolini's district includes the golf course, which was used by the city's original developers to attract customers and became the center of the city's business and social scenes. The course was the site of the 1972 NCAA collegiate championship and helped to establish the juniors golf program in Southwest Florida.

The course was the focus of a public furor in June 2005 when the Lee County School District tried to buy the property. The district wanted to use the 178-acres for five schools. The district offered $26.1 million for the land. But public outrage forced the school district to withdraw its offer.

"I need that golf course to be maintained," Bertolini said. "If something good comes of this, that's fine," she said.

Mayor Eric Feichthaler said he hopes the golf course can be preserved, but he found it strange that the deed was dated Feb. 2 and wasn't recorded with the county clerk until Aug. 8. Recording a deed let's people know who owns the property so bills and other legal matters can be handled by the right person, Feichthaler said.

The delay makes it look like everything was handled internally, and suggests that this is an attempt to reorganize rather than an outright sale, he said.