Residents Express Concern Over President CC Redevelopment

A proposal to redevelop the West Palm Beach, Fla., club’s north golf course into a major resort and spa has some residents worried about property values and commercial rezoning.

Neighbors in West Palm Beach, Fla., are not happy about plans for a redevelopment of President Country Club’s golf course into a major resort hotel, WPEC-TV CBS12 News reported.

Residents of the Whitehall Condo complex, which has a view of the north golf course of the country club, are taking issue with the golf course redevelopment out of concerns for property values.

The owners of the club are looking to convert the golf course into a resort hotel with hundreds of homes just up the street from the old Palm Beach Mall, which is being overhauled into a high-end outlet center, CBS12 News reported.

Rick Greene, a planning manager for the city of West Palm Beach, said the redevelopment proposal for the largely unused north golf course features a 30,000-sq. ft. spa, 300-400 room hotel, 30,000-sq. ft. golf clubhouse, 10,000 sq. ft. of medical offices, a 50,000-sq. ft. conference center, 100 single family homes, 200 condos and a system of lakes to buffer existing homes on 119 acres of land, according to the Palm Beach Post. The project would work well with the new outlet mall, Greene added.

“The concept of a resort is very appealing to West Palm Beach,” Greene said. “It provides redevelopment opportunities. It provides jobs for the area. And more importantly, it increases the tax base of the city.”

But Jonathan Benz, an owner in Whitehall, has his concerns, CBS12 News reported.

“We are concerned even if we are looking at the back end of a resort—the dumpsters of a large resort, anything like that, what is that going to do to our values?” said Benz. “If it’s rezoned commercial, we may or may not get a resort and spa. Who’s to say they may not sell that land to someone else.”

The redevelopment proposal looks to leave the club’s south golf course intact, CBS12 News reported.

Tags: jonathan benz palm beach mall president country club rick greene west palm beach fla. Whitehall condo