Bonita Bay Group set to close clubs on Sept. 30 if they're not sold

NAPLES — The Bonita Bay Group will stop operating its golf courses and clubs after Sept. 30, according to a letter from Timothy Boates, the chief restructuring officer of Bonita Bay Group, to the Board of Directors of Verandah Club and Tennis Club.
Boates stated that Bonita Bay Group is committed to operating those clubs through Sept. 30 as long as members at each club continue to pay their monthly dues.
If clubs are unable to either take over ownership or transfer the ownership to a third party, it will result in the closure of club operations, Boates wrote in a letter dated Aug. 14.
He reiterated that there would be no exceptions.
This is not the first such deadline put to club owners.
Boates had told residents that clubs would be closed July 6 if dues weren't paid through July 1.
He told residents that Bonita Bay Group wanted to sell off its clubs by the end of August, earlier reports showed.
Michael Lissack, one of Mediterra's first club members, said the new deadline is a threat -- one the company may not want to make good on.
“If they actually go ahead and close the clubs they don't have anything left to threaten us with,” Lissack said. “They're between a rock and a hard place.”
Lissack, a former Wall Street whistleblower, has been a vocal opponent of Bonita Bay Group since it canceled its club membership refund policy in November.
The Bonita Springs-based development company is estimated to have collected about $225 million in membership deposits from about 8,000 members for its seven clubs. The company will not be returning those deposits and several lawsuits have been filed alleging breach of contract.
Bonita Bay Group had sold the memberships with a unique feature – residents would receive a full refund of their deposits within 30 days after a member quit the club. Those deposits ran as high as more than $180,000.
After the economy tumbled, the company began working toward avoiding bankruptcy. Bonita Bay Group owed its lenders, led by Key Bank, $109 million, reports said.
“By me, good, close the clubs,” Lissack said. “The sooner they go into bankruptcy the sooner this will get resolved.”
Lissack said Bonita Bay Group has rejected offers from at least four of the clubs.
“We're not going to buy the clubs on terms they like,” he said. “They want us all to forgive the debt. Why would we do that?”
Property values could take a hit in Bonita Bay Group communities without their clubs.
Amenities, such as golf clubs, can account for between 10 percent and 50 percent of property values, said Bill Barnes, chief executive officer of the Bonita Springs Estero Association of Realtors.
“When people come to Florida, they not only look for a house but they also look for a lifestyle,” Barnes said. “When they pay the price that they do pay for the property, it's not just bricks and mortar, it's friends, it's associations and that's what they buy. ... A new buyer coming in only sees the value in the brick and mortar because the lifestyle is no longer an option.”
TwinEagles Golf Club, the former home of the ACE Classic, has already closed operation on its club.
Here is a list of the golf courses once owned by Bonita Bay Group and the world-renown architects who designed them.
■ Bonita Bay West -- all three by Arthur Hills
■ Bonita Bay East -- two courses by Tom Fazio
■ Shadow Wood -- two courses by Bob Cupp
■ Shadow Wood Preserve -- one course by Hills
■ Spring Run -- one course
■ Copperleaf -- one course by Gordon Lewis
■ Mediterra -- two courses by Fazio
■ TwinEagles --- one course by Jack and Jack Nicklaus II, and one by Gary Player
■ Verandah -- two courses -- one by Bob Cupp, one by Jack and Jack Nicklaus II(source: naples news 8-18-2009)