The golf course and restaurant at Stonecrest, the 55-plus retirement community in Summerfield, shut down abruptly after a financial collapse left employees unpaid and management resigning in protest. The closure traces back to a federal lawsuit between warring owners, frozen cash flow, and unpaid bills that finally brought operations to a halt.
An email sent to Stonecrest residents announced the immediate closure of the golf course and restaurant until further notice, according to the Stonecrest Free Press. The same report says Binyomin Neustadt and Brian Haines, an associate of New City Equities, allegedly failed to pay staff for more than two and a half weeks before the shutdown.
The unpaid wages prompted Stonecrest residents to organize fundraising efforts on Facebook to help the affected workers, the Free Press reported. The Stonecrest Property Owners Association, meanwhile, has no legal authority to intervene in or take over the privately owned business, a limitation rooted in Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes, which governs residential common areas but does not grant HOAs power to operate, manage, or fund commercial properties or separately deeded businesses inside a development, according to Hamilton Mikes Law Firm.
A Federal Lawsuit Over a Stalled Golf Operation
The Stonecrest Free Press also reported that the publication urged residents to report suspicious activity at the clubhouse and to monitor any attempts to remove equipment or inventory from the property. Those warnings come as a consolidated federal case grinds through the Ocala Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, where U.S. District Court Judge Carlos E. Mendoza issued a Sept. 2 order merging two lawsuits involving Neustadt and Stonecrest's minority shareholders.
Neustadt purchased a majority interest in Stonecrest Investment Holdings, Inc. and later filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the minority owners, according to court records cited by the Free Press. Federal docket records reviewed by Justia Dockets show Neustadt initiated the suit on October 6, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, naming minority owners 1023190509 Saskatchewan Ltd, Folmar Investments LLC, and Red Carpet Inn Ltd as defendants, with the case assigned number 5:25-cv-00624.
Red Carpet Inn, Ltd. is identified as a minority shareholder in Stonecrest Investment Holdings, Inc. In December 2025, the minority owners — Red Carpet Inn Ltd., 1023190509 Saskatchewan Ltd., Folmar Investments LLC, and Stonecrest Investment Holdings, Inc. itself — filed a three-count verified counterclaim against Neustadt, according to CaseMine, which also notes Neustadt filed his answer and affirmative defenses in January 2026 after missing an initial response deadline. The minority owners separately filed a lawsuit against Neustadt alleging he failed to pay for his initial stock purchase, according to the Free Press's review of court records.
Maintenance Stopped, Then the Judge Declined to Step In
Down to Earth, the company that had been maintaining the golf course, stopped doing so over unpaid bills, the Free Press reported. The minority owners requested a preliminary injunction forcing Neustadt to pay Down to Earth, but the judge declined to intervene in the financial dispute.
Each side has leveled accusations against the other. Neustadt claimed the minority owners were starving the business of cash flow, according to court records cited by the Free Press, while the minority owners allegedly refused to release an outstanding mortgage, allegedly failed to pay their pro-rata share of operating costs, and allegedly marketed the property to outside buyers without Neustadt's consent — all according to the same court filings.
Mendoza dismissed Neustadt's original complaint as a confusing shotgun pleading and ordered him to file a clearer amended lawsuit this fall. The consolidated case will continue as the legal battle over the shuttered property moves forward, leaving the course and restaurant dark in the meantime.
A Pattern Beyond Summerfield
The dispute is not an isolated one for Neustadt's company. New City Equities LLC expanded its national golf portfolio in June 2025 by acquiring Pinelands Golf Club, an 18-hole public facility in Hammonton, New Jersey, with plans for stay-and-play cabins and a Toptracer practice center, according to Club + Resort Business.
A similar pattern of complex ownership transfers has surfaced at another Florida course tied to the firm. In December 2025, New City Equities entered into a $2.7 million deal to acquire full ownership interests in the companies running the Golf Course at Savannahs at Sykes Creek in Merritt Island, a transaction that triggered community pushback in May 2026 over $18 million in recorded property mortgages, according to a report shared on Brevard News.
Stonecrest itself was established as a Development of Regional Impact in Marion County — a gated 55-plus active-adult country club community containing roughly 2,200 single-family homes, located 2.5 miles from The Villages, and notably free of Community Development District bond debt fees. The golf club's 18-hole, par-72 championship course spans 6,852 yards and was designed by architect Steve Nugent in 1993, alongside a separate 9-hole executive course known as the Meadows Course, according to GOLF Course Finder.
What Recourse Unpaid Workers May Have
Employees left without pay do have legal options. Under Florida Statute § 448.08, workers who successfully sue an employer for unpaid wages can recover court costs and reasonable attorney's fees from the losing party, according to the Florida House of Representatives. Separately, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act holds employers liable for unpaid wages plus liquidated damages equal to 100 percent of the unpaid amount when non-exempt employees are not paid on regular paydays, regardless of internal ownership disputes.
For now, Stonecrest residents are left without their primary recreational amenity while the consolidated federal case plays out in the Ocala Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. It is not the first time a Marion County golf property has changed hands amid financial pressure — in 2021, the city of Ocala sold the former Pine Oaks Golf Course to help fund maintenance at Ocala Golf Club — but for Stonecrest's homeowners, the course's fate now rests entirely on the outcome of a courtroom fight they have no legal standing to join.
