Transformation of Lauderdale’s American Golfers Club begins

American Golfers Club site via Mike Seemuth (inset: Robert Lochrie)
American Golfers Club site via Mike Seemuth (inset: Robert Lochrie)

The transformation of the long-closed American Golfers Club in Fort Lauderdale is underway.

Stiles Corp. began site work on the 66.7-acre property to turn it into a downsized practice golf course adjoining a four-acre public park and 36-home residential development.

“They’re moving dirt on the site right now,” Robert Lochrie, an attorney for Coral Ridge Golf Course Inc., told The Real Deal.

Coral Ridge owns the Coral Ridge Country Club and adjacent American Golfers Club, which has been closed since Hurricane Wilma damaged it in 2005. The site is located northeast of the intersection of U.S. 1 and Oakland Park Boulevard.

American Golfers Club was Fort Lauderdale’s last public golf course when it closed down. Coral Ridge Country Club is a private club with an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool.

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In January, Broward County approved a change in Fort Lauderdale’s land-use plan to allow an “irregular” residential zoning designation of 1.7 homes per acre for the 21.8-acre residential portion of the American Golfers Club redevelopment. The city’s least dense “regular” residential zoning allows four homes per acre, according to Lochrie.

The county approved platting for 36 homes on the residential portion of the redevelopment site in May. The 36 residential lots clustered on the south side of the old American Golfers Club property will average about a half-acre each, Lochrie said.

Stiles officials could not be reached for comment on the size and pricing of the 36 homes.

The prices of single-family homes listed for sale in the Coral Ridge community generally range from about $600,000 to more than $1 million, according to real estate website Zillow.com.