Construction of 24-home gated community in Palm Beach Gardens set to start in April

Construction of 24 houses in a gated community is expected to start next month on a seven-acre site in Palm Beach Gardens.

The site at 5307 and 5309 Hood Road is the former location of the Bonnette Hunt Club, which was started in 1961 and served as a popular hangout for such celebrities as Jack Nicklaus, Burt Reynolds and Bing Crosby, and former Florida governors Claude Kirk and Lawton Chiles.

Parkwood Distinctive Homes, the developer, will build three- and four-bedroom houses priced from the low $500,000s to the high $600,000s. The gated community will maintain the Bonnette Hunt Club, and street names there will reference various aspects of the old club’s history.

The one- and two-story houses, including six on lakeside lots, will range in size from 1,361 square feet to 2,632 square feet. Each house will have a two-car garage.

Buyers already have reserved several of the houses, according to Lynn B. Telling of brokerage firm Illustrated Properties, the exclusive listing agent for the residential development.

In addition to prospective buyers who live in South Florida, “we also are getting inquiries from potential buyers looking to relocate to South Florida from tax-heavy states,” Telling said in a prepared statement.

“The site’s proximity to Scripps Research Institute, the United Technologies campus and other major employment hubs certainly helps drive interest in the project,” she said.

Telling represented Parkwood Distinctive Homes in its 2017 acquisition of the development site for $2.55 million, or about $364,000 per acre. – Mike Seemuth