Now, the fight to remove that restriction is playing out in the courts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"World](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2024-04-15-114546.png\")
The land in yellow currently belongs to the World Golf Foundation. The surrounding parcels are either owned by St. Johns County or other entities. While St. Johns County previously considered purchasing the 37-acre chunk that belongs to the foundation, the county backed off after learning of development restrictions on the land. | St. Johns County<\/p>\n
World Golf Village was first envisioned as a mixed-use development with an IMAX Theatre, the World Golf Hall of Fame, a golf course and more.<\/p>\n
It got its start in 1996 when a company now known as IT Land Developments sold 37 acres of land to the World Golf Foundation for just $100. The idea was that World Golf Village would be a nexus for golf and similar sports-related development in St. Johns County \u2014 and just that.<\/p>\n
Thirty years later, the World Golf Foundation says the original vision is no more. The World Golf Hall of Fame has moved out, the IMAX theater is shut down and the PGA Tour moved its production facility to Ponte Vedra Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But when IT Land Development sold what would become World Golf Village to the foundation in the 1990s, the two parties agreed that the land would be used only for golf- and sports-related development for 50 years. That means, had St. Johns County purchased the property as it is, any development that wasn\u2019t related to sports wouldn\u2019t be allowed until 2046.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That put a damper on several public-private partnerships<\/a> the county was considering last year, and it tanked the World Golf Foundation\u2019s sale of the property to the county.<\/p>\n Reader Inge wants to see the development at the heart of a growing part of St. Johns County become a community hub, something groups involved in the public-private partnership proposals said, too.<\/p>\n At one time, SJC Cultural Events Inc., the nonprofit organization that runs the St. Augustine Amphitheater and Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, even pitched taking over the now-closed IMAX to run it as a community theater and event space.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful area. Shame to let it go,\u201d Inge says. \u201cThe IMAX could be a place for school kids\u2019 concerts and plays for the community to see.\u201d<\/p>\n World Golf Village\u2019s future on hold<\/p>\n What the World Golf Foundation wants is for a judge to agree that the restrictions on the property are no longer enforceable, but IT Land isn\u2019t budging.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company\u2019s legal team argues that \u201ca lack of economic viability\u201d is not a good enough reason to lift the restrictions, nor is it a judge\u2019s responsibility to help the World Golf Foundation make money, the company says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not this Court\u2019s role to relieve (World Golf Foundation) of the bargain it struck in 1996, regardless of how unreasonable Plaintiff now believes that bargain is,\u201d a letter from IT Land Development reads.<\/p>\n With the two parties unable to come to an agreement \u2014 and the trial set to progress for the next months \u2014 Christine Valliere, St. Johns County\u2019s head of economic development, says World Golf Village\u2019s future is at a standstill.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot of interest, and, historically, the county sought input as to what types of uses would the community be interested in,\u201d she says. \u201cI think, for the county, the outcome is going to be another (public-private partnership), or perhaps the county will just sell the property.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEither way,\u201d Valliere adds, \u201cthat would be a public process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nearby development<\/p>\n Just because World Golf Village itself\u2019s future is stalled does not mean the surrounding area is not continually growing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although the busy area already boasts, among other things, a Buc-ee\u2019s, a Costco and a Bass Pro Shops, there\u2019s more coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n Construction is underway on a Walmart Supercenter about 2 miles west from the busy hub that includes the Buc-ee\u2019s. Once built out, the Walmart plaza is currently planned to include a White Castle<\/a> restaurant.<\/p>\n According to Dick D\u2019Souza, the county\u2019s assistant director of growth management, none of those developments or other future road plans would justify a sound barrier for nearby homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n