A court ruling has left one of St. Johns County’s most visible redevelopment puzzles exactly where it was: locked behind decades-old land-use restrictions. The World Golf Foundation wanted to clear the way for a unified redevelopment plan around the former World Golf Hall of Fame and IMAX site, but the legal barrier remains in place.
The ruling is a setback for the foundation’s effort to reunite county-owned property with the 37 acres it owns at World Golf Village. As reported by the Jacksonville Business Journal, the summary-judgment decision keeps the restrictions in place rather than giving the property a clean slate for redevelopment.
Why The 37 Acres Matter
The dispute traces back to 1996, when the development’s original master developer sold 37 acres to the World Golf Foundation for $100, according to Jacksonville Today. The agreement limited the property to golf and sports-related uses for 50 years, meaning many other types of development could remain blocked until 2046.
That original vision has since unraveled. The World Golf Hall of Fame moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina, the IMAX theater closed and the PGA Tour relocated its production operation to Ponte Vedra Beach, leaving the foundation to argue that the restrictions no longer match reality.
County Ownership Complicates The Redevelopment
St. Johns County owns the land beneath the former Hall of Fame and took ownership of the building after the ground lease ended, while the World Golf Foundation owns the surrounding property. The county’s own 2025 explanation says the private restrictions also affect the former PGA Tour Productions building and nearby parcels, and that only the original developer, IT Land, can waive or reduce them.
County officials have said they cannot simply remove the restrictions themselves. A planned purchase of the foundation’s property fell apart after the restrictions became clear, according to the county, turning what looked like a straightforward public-private redevelopment deal into a property-rights fight with a very long fuse.
Redevelopment Plans Now Face A Bigger Hurdle
St. Johns County previously advanced two conceptual redevelopment proposals for the area, including Golftopia and The Fountains at World Golf Village. Jax Daily Record reported that later stages of the county’s process would have to address the deed restrictions, traffic and infrastructure challenges.
The foundation’s lawsuit sought a court declaration that the restrictions should no longer be enforceable because the uses they were designed to protect have largely disappeared. IT Land has argued that poor economic prospects are not enough reason to undo a bargain made in 1996, and that it is not the court’s job to help the foundation make the property more valuable, as Jacksonville Today previously reported.
What Happens Next
For now, the court ruling leaves the county, the foundation and prospective developers with fewer easy options. Unless the parties reach an agreement or the restrictions are later overturned, the heart of World Golf Village will remain caught between public ownership, private development rights and a sports-focused promise that is scheduled to last through 2046.
