Maryanne Thomas calls her condo in Boca Teeca the perfect location. “You're a zip to Fort Lauderdale and blink to Delray Beach,” said Thomas.
But from her second-floor balcony, she overlooks a dilapidated clubhouse. It was once part of Ocean Breeze Golf Course that's fallen into disarray. “The people who overlook the golf course are overlooking weeds,” said Thomas. “It's disgusting.”
A well-manicured green and smooth sand traps could once again be a reality.
Monday night, city leaders in Boca agreed to loan the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District about $24 million to buy the property. The plan is to transform 200 acres into a 27-hole championship public golf course with a hotel and golf school.
“I’m happy about this transaction,” said Commissioner Scott Singer, who’s confident the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District will pay the city back.
“We get a golf course within the city, a better caliber, even after investment and refurbishment tens of millions of dollars would be available to city residents,” said Singer.
Boca resident, Regina Ecklund, added, “We really do need a championship municipal course and to have it within the city limits of Boca would be awesome.”
But not everyone is so sure the new golf course will be a money-maker.
“I think there's too many golf courses here,” said Sandra Steck, who’s lived at Boca Teeca for nearly 20 years. She’s seen it all. “They used to have a sign out in the summer $10 to play golf to draw in the crowd,” said Steck. “That didn't even work.”
Her worry is that if the project flops she, and other Boca residents, will have to pay the price. “You've got to have a lot of money coming in to reimburse it and I'm afraid they'd go up on taxes and things like that on us,” expressed Steck.
The city is working out the amount and terms of the loan, whether it would be for 10,15 or 20 years.
If, for some reason, Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District can’t reimburse the city the millage rate would likely go up.
Final approval is expected by the end of the year.
