Cape Royal homeowners purchase Royal Tee Golf Course
Cape Royal Homeowners Association closed last week on a purchase of the Royal Tee Golf Course that was shuttered by course ownership last August.
“Our No. 1 priority was to control the land so that another developer could come in and take over,” said Homeowners Association president Ed Harrington. “We didn’t want our home values to go down, so the association purchased equipment to cut the grass and do basic maintenance on it.”
The purchase includes the 225 acres on which the 27-hole course sits plus the clubhouse building and a separate maintenance building and lot.
Though the HOA has been cutting the grass, it has not been maintained as a golf course. The previous owner did not maintain it, setting the HOA into action to purchase, he said.
“According to state law, 75 percent of the homeowners had to approve the purchase before we could put in a bid for a contract,” said Harrington. “In our voting referendum 91 percent backed the purchase.”
With priority No. 1 accomplished, priority No. 2 is to negotiate with a golf course vendor to lease and operate the golf course and clubhouse.
“We are in final negotiations with two vendors and we hope to choose one real soon,” said Harrington. “I’m sure they will take several months to recondition the place and make the course playable. We hope to have 18 holes ready for play by late summer, early fall, and it will be in top condition in about another year.”
Royal Tee is the centerpiece of the Cape Royal gated community development located on Pine Island Road just east of the intersection with Veterans Parkway and Burnt Store Road.
“We needed to control the property as an investment for all of the homeowners, of which only about 20-25 percent are golfers,” said Harrington. “It is an additional cost to all property owners, an investment of 81 cents per day, per lot/home, or $295 per year, per lot.”
Harrington added that the association is currently evaluating the equipment and clubhouse with a number of volunteers helping to keep it looking maintained at least from the outside.
“We went out and bought a couple of brooms to clean the cobwebs in the corners,” Harrington said. “We are thinking positive about the golf course now.”