The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club is proposing a 30-year development and renovations to its property and the buildings currently on it.
The plan is to break up the various projects into phases with one phase being completed before the next one starts.
“We’re not taking too big of a chunk at a time for the redevelopment,” said Michael Gordon, president of GATE Hospitality. “If a building’s construction starts, it has to be built within three years.”
The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club property is privately owned by GATE Petroleum Company.
Part of the early phases of renovations will include a sports complex and surf club, as well as a six-lane lap pool, yoga shops and tennis and pickleball courts.
The Seahorse Grille will also be enhanced with more space to have an ocean view ballroom with the purpose of accommodating larger weddings.
The fitness center will have a lap pool on the upper floor looking out at the ocean and a family pool below, while the surf club will be in view of the golf course.
The plan is to begin with construction of a parking structure in January 2024 and the surf club beginning right after the culmination of next year’s THE PLAYERS Championship.
“It’s going to be about two years estimated time to complete,” Gordon said.
The parking structure is a top priority because not only will it be able to accommodate more vehicles than the current options, but it needs to be in place to house those visiting the new structures being built.
“We have a parking crisis right now and in absence of a solution those cars make their way into the neighborhoods,” GATE Petroleum president John Peyton said. “Without a parking remedy, we’ve got a similar problem. It is a change, but a needed change.”
More precise project timelines and the options available for facility use for club members and their families while renovations are taking place will be announced as the projects get officially approved.
Although the proposal was initially presented to a room full of current Ponte Vedra Inn & Club members during the Ponte Vedra Municipal Service District meeting May 8, it remains in the early stages of the approval process as it must still be brought forward to the Ponte Vedra Agricultural Review Committee, Ponte Vedra Zoning and Adjustment Board, St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency, and finally to the St. Johns County Commission.
Dates for those presentations are still being worked out.
Over the 30-year plan another 87 hotel rooms will be added to get up to 349 in total.
There is currently a lengthy waitlist for memberships requests, but despite the renovations proposed, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club representation still stressed striving to control its membership numbers moving forward.
In creating the proposal, there have already been many adjustments made to the plan along the way in response to concerns by residents.
According to Peyton, none of the buildings proposed will exceed three stories and a rear exit was eliminated as part of the plan as just a couple of examples of how it has been adapted already to this point.
“The character of the community was deeply considered,” Peyton said. “We’ve met with all these neighborhoods at least once and sometimes four times.”
