St. Johns County issues World Golf Village update

St. Johns County is seeking proposals for the redevelopment of the World Golf Village (WGV) Hall of Fame (HOF) through a Request for Proposals (RFP), which was advertised on June 18.

With the broadcast of the RFP, the project is under the county’s anti-lobbying prohibition, or “blackout period,” which restricts communications regarding the solicitation and project to the designated point of contact, which is Jaime Locklear, purchasing director.

The RFP will be conducted in two phases, with the selection for the shortlist and potential award being made by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners. 

On March 18, the board received a county staff presentation on options for the HOF, including known cost considerations for each option, as well as a financial review. The board unanimously approved moving forward with a formal public-private partnership (P3) solicitation for the redevelopment of the former HOF building.

Joy Andrews, county administrator, released a statement on June 20 in response to recent community misperceptions on the status of the county’s efforts:

“Unfortunately, the opportunity to develop this project into something very special and meaningful for our community is a complex and challenging process. While it hasn’t been easy, we remain fully committed to seeing it through. I want to assure our citizens that we are dedicated to creating a project we can all be proud of, and we will continue to keep you informed every step of the way.”

The facts of the WGV project are:

• The county has always owned the land under the HOF, and when the ground lease was terminated in April 2024, complete ownership of the HOF building reverted to the county. 

• The county never paid for the land or the construction of the HOF building. The PGA was responsible for those costs.

• There are privately held use restrictions on the former HOF building (county-owned), the former PGA Production building and surrounding parcels (PGA Foundation-owned), which have complicated the redevelopment and sale efforts.

• In 2024, the county entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the PGA Entertainment Building and the surrounding 36 acres of land, parking and pond. However, the purchase did not proceed because the original developer declined to remove the use restrictions. 

• Because the use restriction is private, removing or reducing it requires a waiver from the original developer of the St. Johns Development of Regional Impact, SJIT Land (formerly Fletcher Davis).

• St. Johns County has no authority to remove private land use restrictions.