The Eagles Nest Golf Course in Goshen Township, a 163-acre public course that has hosted golfers off Ohio State Route 28 for more than six decades, is set to be redeveloped into hundreds of new homes, apartments and a Kroger-anchored shopping center. Drees Homes plans to break ground by the end of 2026 on the project, which will bring 305 single-family homes to the back two-thirds of the property along with 250 multifamily apartments and new commercial space.
The plan, first reported by Local 12 News, has Fort Mitchell-based Drees Homes partnering with Kroger and Brandicorp to handle the commercial and multifamily components of the site, which sits roughly three miles outside the Interstate 275 beltway. As of this past week, the golf course itself remained open, and according to the outlet's reporting, the course's own manager said he had not been given a firm timeline for its closure.
The redevelopment isn't coming out of nowhere. Goshen Township officials note that a preliminary development plan for the Eagles Nest site was first approved 21 years ago, in 2005, with the neighboring Villages of Belmont community built by Drees serving as the initial phase of that same master project, according to the Goshen Township Administration. The golf course property sat largely undeveloped while that adjacent residential phase built out over the past two decades, and Drees already has a foothold nearby, where two- to three-bedroom townhomes at Villages of Belmont range from $340,000 to $465,000, per Livabl.
A 64-Year-Old Course Meets a Fast-Growing County
Opened in 1962, the 18-hole Eagles Nest Golf Course was designed by architect Taylor Boyd as a par-71 public course spanning 6,145 yards, according to Discover Clermont. Its planned conversion into rooftops and retail arrives amid a period of rapid growth for the surrounding county. Clermont County's population grew 18% between 2000 and 2023, reaching 209,862 residents, driven by suburban expansion east of Cincinnati, according to a housing study commissioned by the Clermont County Board of Commissioners.
That growth has translated directly into construction activity. Building permit issuance in the county hit an annual record of 5,869 permits in 2024, up from 5,780 the year before, and first-half 2025 permits climbed to 3,212 compared with 2,238 during the same period in 2024, the county's housing study found. The stretch of State Route 28 surrounding Eagles Nest was already designated a prime growth corridor for mixed-use retail, higher-density housing and improved bike and pedestrian connections under Goshen Township's 2023 State Route 28 Corridor Development Plan, according to the Clermont County Planning Commission.
Township Has Pushed Back on Other Big Projects
The Eagles Nest redevelopment is landing in a township that has grown notably wary of high-density growth elsewhere. In April 2025, Goshen Township instituted a one-year moratorium on high-density residential projects in order to revise its zoning code, a process that ultimately preserved more than 60% of the township as a Rural Preservation District meant to restrict future large subdivisions, per the Goshen Township Administration. Township zoning authorities have also recently rejected two of three major proposed residential developments, including the Smith Road apartment complex and the Cozadale subdivision, with trustees holding final say over such decisions.
Eagles Nest appears able to move forward in part because it predates those tighter rules and because of an infrastructure factor that shapes where dense housing can go in Goshen Township at all. Centralized sewer service managed by the Clermont County Water Resources Department is the primary technical requirement enabling denser subdivision construction in the township; areas lacking that county sewer access are instead restricted to larger one-acre lots served by septic systems, according to Clermont County infrastructure planning documents cited by the Goshen Township Administration.
Revised Plan Trims Density, Adds Open Space
Compared with the original 2005 plan, the 2026 version of the Eagles Nest redevelopment actually reduces overall home density while adding larger lot sizes and roughly 40 acres of dedicated open space, according to local zoning updates from the Goshen Township Administration. Township leadership has cited traffic and environmental concerns as drivers behind those revisions, an acknowledgment of the same growth pressures that have made other large developments a harder sell in Goshen Township recently.
For now, the golf course remains open to the public, even as the surrounding paperwork moves toward its transformation. Drees Homes has not indicated a specific date for the course's closure beyond its stated intent to break ground by the end of 2026, leaving current golfers and nearby residents watching for word on when the fairways off State Route 28 will give way to construction crews.
