GL Homes partnering with Bacardi on Calusa golf course in Kendall

Homebuilder GL Homes paid $32 million for a shuttered golf course in Kendall that it plans to redevelop with the seller.

Entities tied to Facundo Bacardi, of the Bacardi rum family, sold the Calusa Country Club golf course at 9400 Southwest 130th Avenue to GL Homes affiliate Kendall Associates I LLLP, records show. The sellers, Fort Dallas Gold Club LTD and Northeastern Golf LLC, provided the buyer with $32 million in financing.

GL Homes and Bacardi will redevelop the property together, according to a press release from Godart Florida Real Estate Investments. F. Thomas Godart, managing director, brokered the deal.

Bacardi, who bought the 169-acre Calusa complex in 2006, had been attempting to redevelop the course since 2011. The golf course has been vacant for the past decade, according to the press release.

The Miami-Dade County Commission voted to lift restrictions on development on the course in October.

GL Homes and Bacardi plan to build 550 homes that will range from 3,084 square feet to 5,108 square feet with five bedrooms and an average lot size of 5,532 square feet, according to the press release.

The new development will also have lakes, a 75-foot green space buffer and a 5-acre recreational area.

GL Homes, like other homebuilders throughout Florida, has increasingly targeted golf courses for single-family and townhouse home communities.

GL Homes is also planning to buy a golf course in Boca Raton where the firm would build 500 homes on the property.

North American Development Group recently paid $33 million for a separate Boca Raton golf course with plans to develop over 200 homes.