A dispute over land-use restrictions on World Golf Village property in St. Johns County has turned into an ongoing legal matter.
World Golf Foundation Inc. is seeking a declaratory judgment that would require master developer IT Land Associates LLC to waive restrictions on foundation-owned property there.
Those restrictions require the land to be used exclusively for the Hall of Fame, PGA Productions, an IMAX or similar offering and an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse for 25 more years.
The foundation owns 36.7 acres around the Hall of Fame structure, including the former PGA Tour Productions building, surrounding walkways, the lake at the heart of the complex and parking lots.
Tampa-based Shutts & Bowen LLP is representing the foundation in the lawsuit filed in Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit Court on Feb 19.
The foundation closed the St. Augustine Hall of Fame in 2023 and relocated it to Pinehurst, North Carolina. The IMAX theater closed in late 2024. St. Johns County owns the building that housed the former Hall of Fame museum and IMAX.
A deal for the county to buy foundation assets for $5.5 million expired in late 2024 when the restrictions came to light during due diligence.
According to the foundation’s Feb.19 filing, “With the termination of the County Parcel Lease, the closure of the World Golf Hall of Fame and IMAX theater and the relocation of the PGA TOUR production facility and World Golf Hall of Fame, there has been a categorical end to the World Golf Vision, thereby rendering the Use Restriction unnecessary and unachievable.
“Given that the purpose underlying the Use Restriction is no longer viable or achievable, to wit, the World Golf Vision failed and the Foundation Parcel cannot be used in a manner consistent with the Use Restriction or the failed World Golf Vision, the Foundation contends that the Use Restriction is no longer enforceable and is an unreasonable restraint on alienation upon the Foundation Parcel.”
It adds that, unless the restrictions are removed, the property lacks the marketability for redevelopment or sale.
The suit alleges the agreement solely benefits the developer.
On April 17, the Foundation filed a request for access to specific IT Land Associates documents, electronic data and physical items related to the suit.
Jacksonville-based Bishop, Page & Mills PLLC, which represents IT Land Associates, responded April 18 with a motion to dismiss the complaint.
“First, merely claiming a lack of economic viability of the permitted use is insufficient to warrant this Court’s intervention,” its filing reads. “Second, and relatedly, Plaintiff is not entitled to rely on alleged changed circumstances when it is in control of those circumstances.”
“Those uses, though allegedly not financially advantageous, are still possible under the Use Restrictions (among other permissible uses). It is not this Court’s role to relieve Plaintiff of the bargain it struck in 1996, regardless of how unreasonable Plaintiff now believes that bargain is.”
A meeting between the court, the parties, and their attorneys to discuss the case’s progress and plan for future proceedings is scheduled for July 25.