Seven months after the Flagler Beach City Commission approved it, the $801,333 sale of Ocean Palm Golf Club in Flagler Beach closed on Monday after the buyer exercised two options to delay the closing as financing was being lined up.
“I can confirm that proceeds in the amount of $790,302.98 (sale price $801,333 less charges and taxes totaling $11,030.02) have been successfully transferred to the City,” City Manager Dale Martin told elected officials in a 4:40 p.m. email Monday. Gracefully, Martin included former City Commissioners Jane Mealy and Rick Belhumeur in his email, as both had been instrumental in golf course matters. Belhumeur especially had been the commission’s cheerleader for selling the 37-acre property.
The city sold the course at a loss. It had bought the property in 2013 and 2022 for $949,000 in non-adjusted dollars. The city lost far more money than it made on the course through two successive lease-holders since 2015, including the current lease-holder and new owner.
“The hemorrhaging of City tax dollars on behalf of the golf course is over. Now the City can collect tax dollars instead of spending them,” Belhumeur said. “This time next year the golf course should be fully operational, including a 12-hole course, a modern driving range and a club house with a restaurant/bar and electronic golfing indoors. Time will tell.”
The new owners are Jeff Ryan and Tanuj Seoni through their company, Ocean Palms Golf Club (the difference with the old name is the addition of an s to “Palm”), the lease-holders since they took over management of the nine-hole course in January 2024. They have pledged to the city that the course will be rebuilt, and that a new clubhouse and restaurant will also be built on the site.
“After several delays, I am very pleased that the closing has finally occurred,” City Commissioner Scott Spradley said. “This not only provides funding for the new owner to pay the purchase proceeds to the City of Flagler Beach, but also enables the owner to embark on the very extensive improvements necessary to make the golf course playable again. While all of this will take time, at least the process can finally begin.”
Martin said he will “likely recommend” that the proceeds be used for 2026-27 capital projects currently in the city’s capital plan.
“The additional revenue comes at the perfect time, given the potentially perilous impact on the City budget should the property tax referendum be approved,” Spradley said, referring to the legislature’s recently approved measure for the November ballot proposing to raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 next year, and $250,000 the following year. Should voters approve, local government budgets are expected to suffer sharp revenue drops, without alternative revenue sources so far.
“I have yet to see any meaningful dialogue about how municipalities are expected to replace revenues that would be lost should the property tax cut go into effect,” Spradley said. “I hope the voters are supplied this information before election day, after which it will be too late.”
The city bought the golf course at the south end of town in 2013 when it was in foreclosure. After some hesitation, the city bought most of the acreage for $490,000. The city bought the driving range in 2022 for $459,000. It did so on the assumption that the acreage would be preserved as a golf course, to the relief of the residential community that rims it.
Selling the course drew public opposition from some residents at the south end of town. The commission included a deed restriction in the sale to preserve the land as a golf course. The commission will also place a charter amendment on the next city election ballot that would require a unanimous vote of the commission to scrap the deed restriction.
“The decision to sell the golf course was made before I took office,” Commissioner R.J. Santore, who had opposed the sale, said. “That said, I’m glad to see the course moving towards being revived, and I’m supportive of the charter amendment heading to the ballot. The amendment will give voters a direct say in adding another layer of protection to keep the property a golf course for the long term.”
That leaves just one municipality-owned golf course in the county: Palm Coast’s Palm Harbor Golf Club. The Palm Coast City Council has repeatedly considered selling it, only to run into fierce public opposition, and to lack a majority to do so. Palm Harbor has been run at a loss in most years since Palm Coast acquired it in 2008, in some years at a loss in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The council last rejected privatization in mid-April.
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