New private golf course near Myakka City latest in growth push east in Sarasota, Manatee

Posted by Admin December 13, 2024 Golf

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The latest sign of premium development‘s relentless eastward push in Sarasota and Manatee counties took center stage this week with the debut of the $40 million Soleta Golf Club, 45 minutes east of downtown Bradenton with two miles of frontage on the Myakka River.

The private golf club designed by PGA tour Hall of Famer Nick Price officially opened even as the developer envisions another $40 million in investment, with plans for 93 luxury homes starting in the $3 million range.

With 170 golf club memberships − ranging from $100,000 for players close by and $50,000 for those outside a 60-mile radius − already sold, the target figure is 270, plus 100 national members.

Work on Soleta Golf Club, located about a mile west of Myakka City in what was historically Manatee County swamp and farm country, began less than a year ago and was completed in about 11 months − despite a tropical storm and two hurricanes impacting the area.

The 7,415-yard course was built to be challenging but playable for all skill levels, said two-time PGA Championship winner Price, who attended Tuesday’s grand opening.

Price described the course as variable with golfers having a wide variety of tee locations to choose from on each hole. He noted the course’s fairways will be “firm and bouncy” for the first season, but should calm down next year.

“Try to get it out of your mind that you have to play from a certain spot,” Price said. “The whole idea is to give you variety on this golf course and that’s why we did non-formal tees.”

No single industry may have benefited more from the COVID pandemic than the naturally socially distanced sport of golf.

The resurgence of golf has resulted in investment and new courses across the country, including in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. The city of Sarasota recently spent millions of dollars rebuilding its historic Bobby Jones Golf Course, while also turning it into a more park-like setting.

While the Soleta golf course has been completed, millions of dollars in investment remain, as construction of a clubhouse and other golf facilities still need to be finished.

Soleta is partnering with local homebuilders John Cannon Homes and Anchor Builders for the housing side of the project.

Managing development partner David Turner said he expects the first homes to be completed by November 2025, along with continued progress on golfing facilities. He said the clubhouse should be done by late 2026 or early 2027.

The landowner is 536 Single RE LLC.

The business of golf

Alan Pope, director of sales at Soleta Golf Club, said the development’s focus is in on the golf course itself, unlike traditional private golf club communities where golf serves as a vehicle to sell homes.

Only a handful of the 93 homes built in the development will have direct views of the course, as the developers focus on building training facilities with the latest equipment to track ball distance and speed, Pope said.

While home construction isn’t the primary focus, the homes will be built by local homebuilders.

John Cannon, president of John Cannon Homes, has been involved in numerous developments in the area over the past 35 years. The starting price for some homes sites in Soleta is $350,000, with the cost of construction around $3 million for the least expensive option.

Cannon said he doesn’t expect marketing the property to be a challenge, despite the distance from retail and shopping destinations.

The site is 40 miles from Anna Maria Island and 21 miles east of the University Town Center mall along Interstate 75.

“I can remember the first time I built in Lakewood Ranch,” Cannon said. ” … Everybody told me it was way out there, on the other side of the highway. University Parkway was a dirt road going under I-75.

“Look at it now.”

He believes growth trends will continue moving east in the region while noting the property does provide a great deal of value given the price for a lot is “about half” what it would cost in some other local developments, Cannon said.

Development push eastward in Sarasota and Manatee counties opposed by some

Not everyone believes eastward expansion is a good thing, including Becky Ayech, the president of the Miakka Community Club a few miles south of Soleta in Sarasota County.

Ayech has organized rural Sarasota County residents for years to protect the area’s lifestyle and was well aware of the Soleta Golf Course across the county line.

“It makes me sick that our lifestyle has been ruined by incompatible uses,” she said.

Ayech owns five acres at the end of Fruitville Road where she’s lived at since the early 1980s, raising farm animals and living a “country” lifestyle — something she feels is slipping away as developers march east.

In particular, she opposes the development of the golf course community because of the two miles of Myakka River that flow along the course’s edge.

She said the developer may have had a harder time getting approvals for the project if it had been in Sarasota County, where the state labeled the river with a “Wild and Scenic” designation years ago.

“I’m still happy that my community still has that rural density and flavor,” she said. “But I see it ebbing away.”

Before the 585 acres on Singletary Road in Manatee County was transformed into Soleta Golf Club, the Bellino family owned the property for decades, using it as a pasture for cows and goats.

Joe Bellino said he first envisioned a golf course about nine years ago after picking up the sport once his son took an interest in golf. His son was training with renowned golf instructor David Leadbetter, who lives in Sarasota.

Bellino said he met with Leadbetter nearly a decade ago with Leadbetter’s initial reaction being unfavorable to the course.

“He told me that I was crazy,” he said Leadbetter told him. “You’re at least 15 years away from that being viable.”

Later, after the post-COVID golf resurgence, Leadbetter was more receptive to the idea, and eventually signed onto the project, helping design the club’s state of the art training facilities.

Bellino said he knows some of his neighbors were upset with his selling the property to a developer. He said the developer has limited the impacts, citing the comparatively low number of houses planned and a commitment to “not touch the wetlands” on the property.

He said they also saved 2,500 plants, including massive oak trees that were replanted after being uprooted and moved.

“I understand the opposition,” he said. “That’s about all I can say on it.”