{"id":136051,"date":"2025-09-06T02:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T02:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/136051\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T02:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T02:13:13","slug":"lease-holder-offers-801000-for-golf-club-as-2nd-company-bids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/136051\/","title":{"rendered":"Lease-Holder Offers $801,000 for Golf Club as 2nd Company Bids"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ocean<\/a>Ocean Palm Golf Club is looking for signs of life. (\u00a9 FlaglerLive)<\/p>\n

The operators of the city-owned Ocean Palm Golf Club at the south end of Flagler Beach are offering the city $801,333 to buy the 37-acre, nine-hole course the city has owned since 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, John Patrick Capital, the investment firm, told the city last week that it was interested in making its own offer on the property, implying that it would do a better job running it than the current lease-holder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Manager Dale Martin received the proposal from the current lease-holder<\/a> on Friday, and will be discussing the alternative proposal with the new interested investor soon. The City Commission has not yet discussed either. It is expected to discuss the $801,000 offer at its Oct. 9 meeting, by which time there may be more clarity on the John Patrick Capital proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city paid $490,000 for most of the Ocean Palms acreage in 2013, what would be equivalent to $687,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars, and it paid another $459,000 for the remaining acreage<\/a> in 2022, or $527,000 in adjusted dollars. In sum, the city paid $1.2 million for the two parcels, in adjusted dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year the city conducted three appraisals that averaged $800,000. (They came in at $794,000<\/a>, $810,000<\/a>, and $800,000<\/a>.) The appraisals include condition on the property, limiting its use to a golf course.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That condition is not guaranteed. If the course sells, the condition may be nullified by a future commission. The course could then be turned over to development, as was the case with the Matanzas golf course in Palm Coast a few years ago. It is rimmed by single-family houses and the Ocean Palm Villas\u2019 condominiums at the south end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, Ocean Palm is the single-largest parcel of unbuilt land in the city\u2019s ownership on the island. Only the state and the Florida Inland Navigation District, a tax-supported state agency, and the county, own larger parcels. (The 44 acres the city owns south of Windsor Circle are mostly marsh.)<\/p>\n

The Flagler Beach City Commission in mid-July voted to negotiate<\/a> a sale with Jeff Ryan and Tanuj Seoni, the two partners who took over the lease<\/a> in January 2024, after the city had battled with the previous lease-holder for most of the nine years they operated it. The lease also includes a profit-sharing provision, which kicks in after the course has earned more than $200,000 in revenue for a year. The city has never benefited from that clause. (See the lease here<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The course has not been in better shape since the new lease-holders took over. In most regards, its condition has worsened, according to commissioners. Commissioners allowed Ryan and Seoni to suspend operations pending the outcome of the negotiations of the potential sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Commissioners also declined to issue a request for proposal (RFP) that would have allowed other interested parties to bid on the property. The lease does not include a clause that would have given first-rights preference to the current lease-holder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That has raised some questions, including last week from John Lepak, a representative of John Patrick Capital, an investment firm interested in the course. \u201cWhat\u2019s concerning isn\u2019t that it\u2019s possibly going to sell. Maybe that\u2019s the best path forward for that property,\u201d Lepak told the City Commission last Thursday. \u201cWhat is concerning is that if you guys sell it to the person who\u2019s been operating it, I feel like you\u2019re doing yourself a disservice. I think they failed in every regard. And the condition of the property is apparent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lepak said John Patrick Capital has \u201cfairly broad holdings with a concentration in golf,\u201d including a management group with operations like Ocean Palm in Arizona and Palm Beach County, leasing golf properties. \u201cWe\u2019re asking that you just reconsider this,\u201d the representative said. \u201cI know that there\u2019s probably a formal process for that, an RFP, or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you wanting to make an offer to purchase the property?\u201d City Attorney Drew Smith asked him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to sell it, I\u2019ll buy it,\u201d he said. But he is not pushing for a sale as much as a lease arrangement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing I can tell you is, if you\u2019d like to make an offer, make the offer to the city,\u201d Smith suggested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will look at doing that,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lepak submitted an 18-page prospectus to the commission outlining his group\u2019s interest in Ocean Palm, and calling it \u201cA Better Path Foprward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The prospectus describes the course as \u201ccurrently inoperable\u201d and its operators as underperforming or mismanaging. A sale would leave no future upside for the city, would have a \u201cnegative impact\u201d on the community, and would go against residents\u2019 wishes to keep the property as a public service, the prospectus states.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It then outlines the group\u2019s own plan, which would provide for a restored golf course, including \u201cnight operations,\u201d a \u201ctechn driver driving range,\u201d a restaurant, a band stand, an ice cream stand, a dog park, sports courts and event space (it\u2019s not clear how all those amenities would fit in the limited acreage in addition to what\u2019s being proposed).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group would lease the club for $4,667 a month and share 2 percent of all revenue with the city, apparently without a threshold, as the current lease calls for. (See the prospectus here<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an email to FlaglerLive, Martin, the city manager, today said he had not yet had the opportunity to discuss the John Patrick Capital proposal with the presenter, \u201cbut I expect to more thoroughly introduce myself and discuss that concept within the next week.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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