More homes on the greens: 132 townhomes planned for this Broward golf course
The Margate Executive Golf Course is going to be transformed into 132 townhomes.
The now inactive nine-hole golf course, off Margate Boulevard, was developed in 1973, and within distance of the Oriole Garden senior community.
The Broward County Planning Council unanimously approved the developer’s request on Thursday for 81 more homes to bring the total to 132, although some voting members said they weren’t agreeing enthusiastically.
Golf courses are “going fallow” because people aren’t playing enough to keep them open and make money for the owners, said Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo.
“When they were built there were many more golfers in that generation,” he said. “Golf was a lifestyle.”
“We are the world capital of golf,” he said.
Reducing the number of golf courses in South Florida is “like asking Las Vegas to have less lightbulbs,” he said.
Some Margate leaders said they were frustrated. Mayor Tommy Ruzzano did not vote to approve the plans when it was submitted to the city in December, although the majority of the commission did.
“Margate is an overdeveloped city, we need our green space,” he said. “You’ve got to leave some green space. Broward County is getting so built out it’s getting depressing actually.”
Plans for that golf course had been considered in past years. In 2019, a developer submitted a proposal to turn the Margate Executive Golf Course into 180 townhouses.
Golf courses are being converted into development regularly, and “the Margate Executive Course is suffering from the oversupply of golf courses in the tri-county area,” according to the application to City Hall.
There was no movement on that project five years ago, and that previous developer is no longer involved. But attorney and project spokesman Matthew Scott, who represents the owner Fimiani Development Corp., said he expects construction to now begin in 2026.
The two-story townhomes will be considered “attainable housing,” Scott said, although specific prices have not yet been decided.
“The vision is new housing for young families buying their first house,” he said.
The development will be called “Nove of Margate,” in homage to the former nine-hole course. “Nove” means nine in Italian.
According to documents, the homes will be three-bedroom townhomes with a clubhouse, swimming pool, and pickle ball courts.
A handful of residents pleaded with the Planning Council to turn it away, such as Lauren Beracha, who cited pending “horrendous” traffic and disruption to “senior quiet.”
Beracha bought at Paradise Gardens condos in 2010 and got her golf-course views of the executive course when she took a short walk. “We have people with walkers,” she said. “What they want to build is not senior friendly.”
Marilyn Kneeland has lived at Oriole Gardens, a senior community, since 2006. She purchased near the sixth hole of the executive course and was able to take in the serenity of the width of the course.
“I bought it for the view,” she said.
Kneeland said the course closed a few years ago. She worries she’ll soon be looking at a building instead.
“It’s in the wrong place,” she said of the plan.
Residents aren’t giving up. “We’re still fighting it,” she said.
Remaining courses
The executive course won’t be the last to be repurposed into housing in Margate.
Ruzzano said developers have approached commissioners with plans to turn the inactive Carolina Club golf course into housing, too.
That’s a lot, he said.
“I can’t stand it,” he said. “There’s a reason people move to Southwest Ranches, Davie, Parkland — they want that suburban feeling,” he said. Broward is turning into an “urban jungle.”
Another Margate course, Palm Lakes Executive, is inactive. A developer’s plans to build townhomes there failed after nearby residents fought the proposal and the land is still empty.
Only one golf course in Margate remains active: Oriole Golf Club.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash
