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South Florida

GL Homes drives home $66M deal for Boca Raton golf course

After postponing closing for one year, city finalized sale of 190-acre site for residential development

Misha Ezratti, president, GL Homes in front of the Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course (GL Homes)
Misha Ezratti, president, GL Homes in front of the Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course (GL Homes)

 

After a one-year delay, a Sunrise-based residential developer closed on a 190-acre, city-owned golf course where it plans to build more than 500 homes.

GL Homes, led by President Misha Ezratti, paid $65.7 million for the Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course, according to records. The seller is the city of Boca Raton.

Due to the postponement of the closing last November, GL Homes paid an additional $250,000 as part of a prior agreement with Boca Raton. The property is at 8111 Golf Course Road near Glades Road, just west of the Florida Turnpike.

In 2017, the Boca Raton city council voted to approve the sale to GL Homes. A year later, the city council authorized the developer’s proposal to build more than 550 homes on the site. However, a court petition filed by Glades Road Self Storage, an affiliate of Sunshine Self Storage, forced GL Homes and Boca Raton to push back the closing until Oct. 31.

In its petition, the self storage company alleged Palm Beach County inappropriately approved a communications tower near the golf course. It also alleged that GL Homes failed to meet all the criteria for waivers related to building the tower, and that the county allegedly failed to consider the effects of the tower on nearby property owners like Glades Road Self Storage.

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Glades Road Self Storage owns a self-storage facility and 511-foot communications tower at 20555 Boca Rio Road near the golf course.

On Feb. 17, a three-judge appeals panel denied the self storage company’s petition, records show.

The delayed closing could have a positive impact on sales in GL Homes’ proposed development, due to a low inventory of single-family homes in Palm Beach. According to recent monthly reports by the Miami Association of Realtors, single-family home sales in the county dropped 10 percent in August and nearly 17 percent in September.

“Record-low inventory, rather than a decline in demand, slowed down Palm Beach single-family home sales,” the September report states. “More inventory is expected to come to the market in 2022 as potential home sellers become more comfortable listing and showing their homes.”

GL Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in South Florida, is bullish on converting former golf courses into residential communities. In February, the developer paid $32 million to entities tied to rum empire mogul Facundo Bacardi for the shuttered Calusa Country Club golf course in Kendall.

Bacardi and GL Homes are partnering to redevelop the property into a community of 550 five-bedroom homes with lakes, a 75-foot green space buffer and a 5-acre recreational area.

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Boca RatonGl HomesGolf CoursesHomebuilders