from staff
A trio of prominent Realtors and builders has purchased Selva Marina Country Club and plans a massive renovation of the facility.
Once completed, it will be called the Atlantic Beach Country Club.
The purchasing group is called Atlantic Beach Partners LLC and is led by Jacksonville-based developers Rick and Susie Wood of Wood Development.
Other partnership members are Gary and Leed Silverfield of The Silverfield Group and William Howell of the W.R. Howell Co., which developed the Chimney Lakes subdivision in Argyle Forest.
The Atlantic Beach Partners makeover will feature:
• The addition of 174 single-family home sites, ranging from 55-foot to 80-foot lots with golf course or water views. Lot pricing starts in the $160,000 range. Prudential Network Realty will be the broker for non-builder lot sales and preferred builders will be able to purchase lots beginning in September.
• Replacing the existing golf course with an 18-hole, 6,815-yard course. Course construction begins later this year after demolition of the existing facilities. Erik Larson, formerly of Palmer Course Design, will design the new layout.
• Replacing the clubhouse, swim and tennis amenities with a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse, seven Har-Tru tennis courts and a junior Olympic-size pool.
The clubhouse and golf course's grand opening is scheduled for October 2014.
Selva Marina Country Club opened in 1958 on property owned by the Bull family and achieved early success. At the time, the nearest golf courses were the public facility at Jacksonville Beach and the military course at Mayport, and the closest residential area with a course was Ponte Vedra. The club gained considerable notice when it was chosen to host the first three Greater Jacksonville Open golf tournaments in 1965, 1966 and 1967. The GJO then moved to Deerwood, later to Hidden Hills, then back to Deerwood before becoming what is now the Players.
The club has struggled in recent years and the recession put a severe dent in the membership, which dipped under 100 last year. But the problems started well before the recession. As other courses were built — notably Queen's Harbour, Hidden Hills and several in the Ponte Vedra area — the club lost members. There were several efforts to bring it back. About 10 years ago, the members contracted with Weed Design to produce a master plan that would include building lots and a renovation of the course, but this met with neighborhood opposition and was scrapped when the club members could not get financing. In recent years, members have brought in a management company and the course became what's called a "daily fee" — i.e., open to the public.
Maintenance of the facility has suffered, bringing on the sale to the developers.