CC Homes Plans 900 Homes for Closed Sunrise Golf Course

Jim Carr of CC Homes with an aerial of the Sunrise development (CC Homes, Google Maps)

CC Homes plans to build 900 homes on a shuttered golf course in Sunrise, the latest move in a wave of country club redevelopments in South Florida.

City commissioners on Tuesday approved a development agreement to build the homes at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club, near the southeast corner of West Oakland Boulevard and North University Drive. Sunrise commissioners also gave initial approval to a special district that would assess homeowners to cover the infrastructure costs of the redevelopment.

Windsor-Tiger Investments Manager, LLC, a Coral Gables-based company that controls the closed 18-hole golf course through two other companies, proposed the special district.

Windsor-Tiger is managed by real estate investor Roland DiGasbarro, who made news in 2016 when he sold an investment group led by David Beckham 4.4 acres in Miami’s Overtown for $12.8 million. At the time, the group planned — but never ended up building — a stadium for their Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami CF.

Property records show the two companies managed by Windsor-Tiger assembled their development site at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club in two deals totaling $6.3 million. Windsor Investments (Fairway Isles), LLC closed a $1.3 million purchase in January 2012, and Windsor Investments (Sunrise Golf & Country Club), LLC closed a $5 million, multi-parcel purchase in January 2014.

A presentation filed with the city of Sunrise reveals that CC Homes is the developer of the planned makeover of Sunrise Golf & Country. The plan includes a new 7-acre public park on the north side of the golf course, which closed in 2015.

Coral Gables-based CC Homes, owned by Jim Carr, plans to build 900 homes, none taller than two stories, including single-family homes with a garage and three or four bedrooms, ranging from 1,650 square feet to 2,100 square feet, according to the presentation.

The developer also plans to build townhouses with a garage, three or four bedrooms, and sized from 1,325 square feet to 1,850 square feet, plus smaller townhouse models without a garage, with two or three bedrooms, and 1,100 square feet to 1,700 square feet of space.

City commissioners approved on first reading an ordinance creating the Solterra Community Development District, which would have a five-member board and would assess residents to cover infrastructure costs at the redeveloped golf course.

Initially, all five board members would be representatives of the developer and would include DiGasbarro and Harold Eisenacher, president of CC Devco, LLC, a company headed by Carr. “Over time, the board membership will transition from the developer’s representatives to the residents of the neighborhood,” Greenspoon Marder partner Dennis Mele, who represents CC Homes, told commissioners.

The plan of the development (CC Homes)

CC Homes probably would start construction at the closed Sunrise golf course in 12 to 18 months, Mele told the commission. Prior to the meeting, Mele declined to say whether CC Homes has an option to buy the Sunrise Golf & Country Club. Neither DiGasbarro nor Carr returned calls seeking comment.

Mele said the redevelopment project is still pending a land use change for the golf course, a plat amendment, site plan approval and rezoning. Part of the 160-acre golf course is zoned for a nine-story, 476-unit condominium development, but most of the property lacks residential zoning.

From 2022 to 2023, the developer expects to complete nearly $20 million of infrastructure work at the development site, including roadway improvements, a public park, wastewater management system and stormwater collection system, according to a petition by DiGasbarro’s Windsor-Tiger to establish the Solterra Community Development District to pay for the projects.

The pending redevelopment of the Sunrise Golf & Country Club is the latest in an ongoing series of golf course redevelopments in South Florida as the popularity of the sport sags.

Last year, Lennar paid $27.6 million for a development site on a former golf course in Delray Beach to build 524 homes, and multifamily developer North American Investment Group paid $33 million for part of a closed golf course in Boca Raton, with plans to redevelop it.