Boca district’s $24M plan to buy Ocean Breeze golf course moves forward

A $24 million plan to buy, renovate and reopen the Ocean Breeze Golf Club in Boca Raton is finally moving forward. 

The city and its Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commission are working on a loan agreement to finance the purchase of the 27-hole course at 5801 Northwest Second Avenue, the Palm Beach Post reported. The city council would have to vote on the deal at a later date.

The price tag includes up to $12 million to renovate the shuttered golf course, $2.2 million a year for maintenance, about $2.5 million to rebuild the club house. The park district expects the course will net about $2 million a year, the newspaper said.

Wells Fargo and Lennar own Ocean Breeze, the largest of two public golf courses in Boca Raton. Lennar originally planned to build homes on the property, which spans more than 200 acres in the Boca Teeca subdivision of Boca Raton. Residents  previously challenged another developer’s plan to build homes on a portion of the course, a plan that never materialized.

Over the past year, 211 golf courses have closed and only 15 opened nationwide, according to the National Golf Federation.

Developers have been picking up golf course properties in recent years as the sport’s popularity continues to fall. Nearby in Boca, PulteGroup paid $8.3 million for a 40-acre site within the Boca Lago Country Club.  [Palm Beach Post] – Katherine Kallergis