The Tern Bay Golf and Country Club golf course plays to a par-71 and a maximum distance of 6,800 yards.
Tern Bay Golf and Country Club opened in 2007 and closed in 2008.
The course was to be the focal point of a 1,750 acre dream community.Starting out as raw dirt in late 2005, it would in the next half-dozen years become a thriving place for 738 garden condos, 504 mid-rise condos, 208 coach homes, 360 single-family homes, a golf course, fitness center, a 60-room hotel, as well as 85 units of commercial office space.
In 2005, Tern Bay issued $58 million in bond debt to fund infrastructure like roads, water supply, sewers, amenities, and to "put down the lots." Fast-forward two years, to 2007, the course was in place. More than $33 million in development costs later, the lead developer cuts loose from the project. Othr Developers walked as well, apparently forgetting to tell the golf course lawn mower service to stop cutting the grass. Dept structue payments are not being made, and the project tailspins into default. Said golf course lawn mower service, Hawkins Environmental, Inc., winds up at an advertised foreclosure sale on June 29, 2007, and walks away with title to the entire tract for $100.
Wait a minute. The total debt - bond and bank mortgage - on Tern Bay was more than $120 million? What happens, then, when a lawn mowing company picks up title to 1,750 acres for $100? Well, now he owes bond holders a lot of money, is what. Clearly, it's a mess.
Tern Bay is viewed by many Florida real estate pros as the poster child of developments gone bad.