D.R. Horton plans homes on golf course in Brevard

Home builder D.R. Horton advanced its plan to build a subdivision with as many as 224 single-family homes on a golf course in Sharpes, a small town in Brevard County.

The Brevard County Commission unanimously approved a zoning change and an amendment to its comprehensive plan that would allow the conversion of an 18-hole golf course along U.S. 1 to a residential community.

Bo Bar-Novan, who manages land acquisition for the East Florida Division of D.R. Horton, told Florida Today that his company has a contract to buy the golf course, called Sam’s Executive Golf Course.

He also told the newspaper that D.R. Horton had been waiting for county approval before starting the engineering and design work for its planned single-family home development, called Panther Ridge.

Opened in 1966, Sam’s Executive Golf Course is a 56.17-acre course that has peaked in popularity. The par-56, executive-length course at 4257 North U.S. 1 in Sharpes is 2,929 yards long.

The staff of the Brevard County Planning and Development Department wrote in a report to county commissioners that “the redevelopment of golf courses is increasingly common, since there is a steady increase in the demand for developable land for residential development. On the other hand, demand for golf courses is declining, especially since the Great Recession.” [Florida Today] – Mike Seemuth