St. Johns County to seek RFQs for World Golf Village

On May 21, the St. Johns Board of County Commissioners approved World Golf Village strategic recommendations and directed county staff to prepare a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to solicit proposals from developers to redevelop the property based on community input.

Public survey results and details about the properties are available at sjcwgv.com. The board will review the results of the RFQ at a future meeting, which will be open to the public.

The next steps outlined by staff to prepare the RFQ to solicit qualified proposals and developers will include the following:

• Define the site vision, concept and goals, using findings from resident feedback. 
• Establish selection criteria.
• Develop and publish the RFQ in October.
• Conduct independent financial feasibility analysis of submitted proposals.
• Select a development partner with a goal of first quarter of 2025.

Following the transition of ownership of the IMAX Theater and World Golf Hall of Fame building in March, St. Johns County reaffirmed its dedication to keeping the IMAX Theater open to the public.

On April 16, the board approved the $5.5 million purchase of all World Golf Foundation Inc. assets, including the tour production building, parking and common space. This adds to the county's ownership of the Hall of Fame building, IMAX Theate, and the grounds of the World Golf Village Renaissance St. Augustine Resort Convention Center and Hotel.

The properties include:

• The former World Golf Hall of Fame: a 64,113-square-foot, multi-purpose facility.
• World Golf Hall of Fame IMAX Theater: a 17,865-square-foot movie theater. The equipment (movie screen and audio/visual components) would remain in the building.
• PGA Tour Productions building: a 32,329-square-foot, Class-A office building.
• South Legacy Trail: 36.07 acres of parking lots, rights-of-way areas, landscaping and lakes.

In July 2022, the World Golf Foundation made known its intention to move the World Golf Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame IMAX theater out of the World Golf Village and to relocate the PGA Tour Productions to a new building on the Global Home Campus.