Fifteen golf course design firms, including Arnold Palmer Design Company, Greg Norman, and Nicklaus Design, have submitted requests to partner with the Boca Raton, Fla., park district to design a 27-hole golf course that the district will buy for $24 million. Many proposals for the former Ocean Breeze Golf Club property include plans for an on-site golf school.
A few big names in the golf industry—including Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus Design, Robert Trent Jones and Arnold Palmer’s design company—want to partner with Boca Raton’s park district to design a 27-hole course that it will buy for $24 million, My Palm Beach Post reported.
The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District sent out a request seeking architects to transform the dilapidated Ocean Breeze Golf Club in the city’s north end into a world-class golf destination, the Post reported.
Fifteen firms submitted requests to design the 214-acre course. Many of the proposals include plans to build an on-site golf school, the Post reported.
“We have probably the finest group of golf course designers who (have sent proposals for) this project that one can ever anticipate receiving,” said Arthur Koski, director of the beach and park district.
The public golf course will be renovated and re-branded “Boca National Golf Club.” The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, which owns and operates several parks in the city and its suburbs, is under contract to buy the 27-hole course, clubhouse and on-site hotel for $24 million, the Post reported.
The course is primed to become a local golf destination, as the city decided recently to shut down and sell its municipal golf course to a home builder for $65 million, the Post reported.
Boca National Golf Club will be one of just two public courses in the city. The other is a smaller nine-hole oceanfront course at Red Reef Park. The Boca park district and the city both resolved to keep public golf in Boca Raton, when discussion of selling the municipal golf course was brought up, the Post reported.
The prominence of the firms proposing to partner with the district to design Boca National Golf Club and operate a golf school proves the value of a golf course in Boca Raton, Koski said. “Almost every one of the proposers has a resume that would elevate this golf facility,” Koski said. “They’ve designed some of the best golf courses in the country.”
Among those proposing to design the course are firms that involve golf legends and experienced course designers, including Price / Fazio II Design Team and Rees Jones, Inc. The district will select an architect in January, the Post reported.
The course won’t be modeled after a particular golf course, Koski said, as the city seeks to create a unique destination. “We want something that is standalone—an outstanding facility that the residents can enjoy it,” Koski said.
It could cost up to $14 million to re-design and renovate the now-closed course. And the district will likely spend about $500,000 a year to maintain the course, the Post reported.
The 27-hole course and clubhouse will be rebuilt, but the hotel will not. That land will be reserved for public use. The district may use it to build another public facility, but hasn’t ironed out the details, Koski said.
These 15 firms submitted requests to design the new golf course:
1. Arnold Palmer Design Company
2. Dusenberry Golf Course Design, LLC
3. Greg Norman
4. Hills & Forrest
5. Jan Bel Jan
6. Kipp Schulties Golf Design
7. Lehman Design Group
8. McCumber-Wright Venture, LLC
9. Nicklaus Design
10. Price / Fazio II Design Team
11. Rees Jones, Inc.
12. Richard Mandell Golf Architecture
13. Robert Trent Jones
14. Staples Golf
15. Vincent Design
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