Residents vote in favor of 13th Floor’s redevelopment of Delray golf course

Site plan for golf course redevelopment and Michael Nunziata
Site plan for golf course redevelopment and Michael Nunziata

13th Floor Homes cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday for a massive redevelopment of a Delray Beach golf course.

Residents of the Villages of Oriole, a senior living community, gave 13th Floor’s Avalon Trails project a 95 percent approval rating, according to the developer. It will now go before Palm Beach County for final approval and permitting. Construction is expected to begin in 2018.

As proposed, Avalon Trails will convert the shuttered 18-hole Marina Lakes Golf Course into a community geared toward people 55 and older with about 524 residential units. The golf course is adjacent to the Villages of Oriole. The units will include single-family homes, villages and apartments priced from the mid $200,000s to $500,000.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Current zoning allows for up to 1,200 units to be built, Michael Nunziata, president of 13th Floor’s  homebuilding division, told The Real Deal last month. But nearby residents were opposed to high-density development, and wanted the project to be age-restricted. The Village of Orioles, which 3,742 homes, is also restricted to residents who are at least 55 years old. At a community meeting in September, some nearby residents lobbied for preserving the land as a public space, while others said the project is a step forward to replacing the overgrown course, which would be too expensive for the community to reopen.

Once it’s completed, Avalon Trails will feature clubhouses, resort-style pools, card rooms, gyms, business centers, game areas, tennis and pickle ball courts, bocce ball, landscaped walkways, and lakefront park areas. The developers are also incorporating a 2.4 mile eco-fitness trail. – Katherine Kallergis