St. Johns County Considers Options for World Golf Village

The World Golf Village properties may never turn into a cash cow for St. Johns County, but officials are hoping it doesn’t become a white elephant.

The fate of the IMAX Theater and other facilities on the campus produced a lot of discussion at a St. Johns County Commission meeting earlier this month, and even produced the possibility of converting the IMAX into a multi-use community theater.

The presentation began with a brief history of the property from Tera Meeks, director of tourism and cultural development, including the process of bringing the World Golf Hall of Fame and St. Johns County Convention Center to the area.

Economic Development Director Sara Maxfield followed with an update on the status of the properties after the departure of the Hall of Fame and termination of the ground lease on the property.

“Doing due diligence we learned there was an existing property-use restriction that limits the property value and affects the public interest,” Maxfield said, adding the use restriction requires a waiver from the original developer of the site.

Maxfield said the developer is hesitant to grant the waiver without assurances the county will consider reducing road improvement obligations the developer has along International Golf Parkway created under the original development of regional impact agreement. The obligations would cost the developer $18 million in transportation work.

Maxfield also addressed community interest in the IMAX Theater and said county staff has been exploring ways to keep the facility open and active.

“We recently had conversations with our partners at St. Johns County Cultural Events Inc. to see if there might be an opportunity to engage and partner once again to activate this facility,” she said. “In fact, under their current partnership agreement with the county SJCCE has a right of first refusal to consider the addition of the IMAX to its contract.”

Jerry Wilson, a member of the SJCCE board of directors, laid out three possible scenarios for the IMAX facility for commissioners to consider. The first would be to keep the theater closed and is “the easiest and least expensive of the options,” he said.

The second option is to reopen the IMAX as a single-use venue but that would require an estimated $1.2 million investment as well as recurring expenses.

The third scenario is to repurpose the IMAX as a multi-use community theater. He said this option “is designed to address the underlying value of IMAX while attracting a broader audience.”

Wilson said the revamped theater would screen first-run movies to encourage more frequent use of the facility.

“If we could get more frequency of use this could be successful,” he said. “It has great appeal for tourism.”

Wilson unveiled a sample schedule that would include events and programs for adults as well as for children, with a variety of entertainment opportunities.

Commission Chair Krista Joseph was cool to the idea, expressing concerns about the financial obligations the county would incur.

“It’s like a money pit for our taxpayers,” she said.

Commissioner Ann Taylor echoed Joseph’s concerns about the World Golf Village properties.

“I have heard so often from people that they don’t believe the county should be in the real estate business,” she said. “And a lot of people were really upset we purchased this.”

Maxfield said the county did not purchase the property, rather the building reverted to the county under the terms of the original ground lease.

Commissioner Clay Murphy said the legal situation puts the county in a bind with any plans for the property.

“Our challenge here is the original developers are on the hook for a certain amount of money and they’re not willing to change the restrictions unless we release them from their financial responsibility,” he said. “So we’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to that.”

Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said the county was trying to follow the will of the people with regard to the property after the Hall of Fame departed.

“The fear was if we leave it to the free market what’s going to go in there is multi-family (housing),” he said. “I think the board’s discussion was we need to have some control.”

Commissioner Sarah Arnold, who was also on the commission when the issue first arose, agreed commissioners were trying to follow what the community wanted.

“They wanted the county to drive this redevelopment process,” she said. “At this point though, I have serious reservations if they’re not going to lift the restrictions. I think the proposal put forward by SJCCE is something that really aligns with what the community feedback wanted.”

Murphy said he has “a lot of confidence with SJCCE” to repurpose the IMAX.

“I think it would be a great use and I really trust those guys,” he said.

Commissioners directed county staff to meet with SJCCE further to refine the details of Wilson’s presentation and present them at a future meeting.