By 2008 the Bonita Bay Group (BBG) had established itself as a top-tier land developer known for pioneering environmentally friendly planned communities. Rather than being a direct homebuilder, it sold lots to a curated group of builders, operated multiple exclusive golf clubs, and had a national reputation for creating master planned communities, exceptional lifestyles, and environmental stewardship. Verandah was its latest such community and the BBG had been building and developing Verandah in concert with an appointed Advisory Group of Verandah residents. As originally envisioned, Bonita Bay would own and operate a full-service marina (Sweetwater Landing) and a waterfront restaurant for Verandah residents and there would be sufficient space for an additional Club building close to the back gate.
But by 2009 the financial crisis, triggered by the bursting of a massive U.S. housing bubble, changed everything for the BBG and thus Verandah. The BBG, squeezed by debt and plunging sales across its seven communities, was faced with a massive membership refund crisis (a “run on the bank”). The President of the BBG met with the Verandah Resident Advisory Board and informed the members that it was going into “workout mode.” In other words, rather than foreclosure they wanted to enter negotiations (the “workout”) with the various Clubs to find a workable path forward. In short, they wanted to sell the Clubs.
The Advisory Group, believing that a group appointed by Bonita Bay should not be negotiating with Bonita Bay, terminated itself and created The Verandah Golf and Tennis Club. Its Board was elected by Verandah residents. This elected group of residents worked very hard to keep residents engaged with Verandah and offered proposals and took actions to offset the BBG’s operating losses. However, Bonita Bay never signed off on any of these but focused on negotiations for the members to purchase the Club. At that time the negotiated price for the Club was close to $1 million dollars.
Between August of 2009 and 2010 the BBG sold the Club at Bonita Bay, the Club at Mediterra, Shadow Wood Country Club, and The Brooks to their members. Twin Eagles was sold to a third-party developer. In 2012 Bonita Bay Group offered to sell its Club and its amenities to Verandah residents for $2,000,000. The residents had what is called the Right of First Refusal. In other words, we had the right to buy the Club before the BBG could sell it to anyone else, But Verandah was only 48% built out and the Club was operating at a deficit, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the existing residents to buy it. Not surprisingly, a significant majority of the members voted to not buy the Club.
In October of 2012 the Kolter Group, a residential and commercial property developer, completed its purchase of the Verandah Club and all unsold developer-owned real estate. In June of 2014 the Bonita Bay sold Sweetwater Landing.
So ended drama of Bonita Bay and another chapter of Verandah’s story. Stay tuned for Chapter 3.
