By Fred Seely, Editor
A ho-hum groundbreaking for something that everyone already knew about?
“We didn’t have any idea how many people would be here,” said Gary Silverfield, one of the developers of Atlantic Beach Country Club. “We prepared, but it was a guess.”
Who would guess that 300 people would show up on a cool Friday morning in January to see a bunch of people pretend to dig holes for a new housing development?
“People want this club,” said Matt Cooney, an Atlantic Beach resident and former Jacksonville television sportscaster. “We had Selva Marina and it went away, and we see a new day coming.”
The 300 were rewarded for shivering through speeches with a catered lunch under a heated tent.
The groundbreaking signaled the start of building the country club — actually, those in the photo were on the base of what will be the swimming pool bathhouse — that may be ready by the end of this year. The project had been announced some six months ago.
It will include a clubhouse, an Olympic-sized pool, seven tennis courts, a golf course designed by former Arnold Palmer partner Erik Larsen and 178 lots.
The fact that it is being developed at all is amazing, given the recent downturn in the economy: The last big project here was Palencia in 2002 and the country club is believed to be the only golf course under construction in Florida.
The lots are well on their way to being sold: Toll Brothers has 90 and Riverside Homes has 30. The former is a national company; the latter is co-owned by one of the club’s developers, Rick and Susie Wood of Wood Development.
The third developer is Billy Howell, whose resume includes the Chimney Lakes project in Argyle Forest.
Berkshire Hathaway HSFN is the prime real estate company and real estate veteran Lee Elmore will be the main agent. She previously was with the Villa Riva and John Gorrie projects in Jacksonville’s Riverside area.
Remarkably, the old Selva Marina membership has returned. They had mostly disappeared as the old club deteriorated — the clubhouse had seen few changes since it was built in 1958 — and fell into deep debt, but now they are back. As of last month’s celebration, there were 371 on the books. Many are expected to be homebuyers.
One reason for the membership: One of the first hires was Melissa Bryan, who had been the membership director at The River Club in Downtown Jacksonville.
“It’s remarkable to have this many because every one of those people is paying dues even though we have nothing except discount golf at other courses,” said longtime member Joe Fitzgerald, who was on the committee that worked to solve the old club’s problems and did it through the sale to Silverfield and his partners.
The dues will be applied toward the initiation fee, as will the value (not much, by the way) of any Selva stock the prospective member might hold.
When the amenity construction is finished and the lots sold, the developers will turn the club back to the members.
What once was the member-owned Selva Marina — site of the first two Greater Jacksonville Open golf tournaments — will become Atlantic Beach Country Club.
The groundbreaking crowd included many members, civic leaders and almost every person involved in the process, which started more than a year ago.
“It’s been a long 15 months,” said Silverfield. “So many pieces to put together.”
Highly respected club management company CSI International was hired to guide the way and the company’s principals, Kevin Stark of Jacksonville and Jim Riscigno of Tallahassee, were there.
“They’ve done it the right way,” said Rescigno, a former executive with the big Club Corporation of America company. “They are solid people. The community really wants this to happen.”