Clearwater Opens Landings Golf Club to Rival Bids After $180M Sports Complex Pitch

Clearwater's City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 6 to keep alive an unsolicited $180 million proposal that would tear out the city-owned Landings Golf Club and replace it with a sports, water park and entertainment complex, but the vote also opened a 30-day window for other developers to pitch their own ideas for the 77-acre property.

The council's action is not approval. It is a green light to keep talking, and now to see who else wants in. City staff must still work through zoning questions, an old landfill on the site, and the property's proximity to Clearwater Airpark before anything gets built.

The proposal comes from Sunshine Recreational and Entertainment LLC, a company managed by local developer Les Porter. His plan would convert the golf course at 1875 Airport Drive into 13 multipurpose athletic fields, as many as 24 pickleball courts, a dozen sand volleyball courts, a water attraction, fitness facilities, restaurants and mini golf. Backers say the complex could serve about 1.5 million people, generate a projected $566 million in economic benefit over 10 years, and create more than 600 jobs. They estimate construction would take roughly three years.

Where the money would come from

The financing plan leans heavily on borrowed money and public support. Documents presented to the council describe roughly $108 million in private debt, $26.9 million in equity, and about $45 million requested from Pinellas County's tourist development tax, the bed tax collected from hotel stays that is supposed to fund projects that draw visitors. None of that county money is secured yet.

A financial adviser who reviewed the deal for the city, Wendell Gartner of Public Resource Advisory Group, told the council the project's viability depends on a large private construction loan and on revenue projections built around food and beverage sales. He recommended the city get firm proof of financing in hand before finalizing any lease.

Porter has said the development would eventually generate about $2 million or more a year in property taxes, most of which would flow into the city's general revenue.

Neighbors are not sold

The loudest opposition is coming from residents near the course, organized under a group called Keep Keene Green. Melissa Stamos, who is part of that effort, has raised concerns about traffic, noise, light and roughly 2,000 parking spaces planned for the site. She has told local reporters the project should go through a full request-for-proposal process that weighs every option against what actually fits the neighborhood.

Porter has responded with some concessions. He has agreed to close an entrance and exit onto Airport Drive so traffic would no longer spill onto the smaller residential road, and he has proposed cleaning up an old landfill that sits on the north 22 acres of the property. Other offers on the table include 24/7 on-site security, wider landscape buffers, an opaque wall along the property line, and reduced parking fees meant to keep cars off nearby streets.

The 2020 referendum shadow

This is not the first fight over the Landings. In 2020, the city put a plan to lease about 58 acres of the same course for a light industrial, research and office park to a citywide vote. Clearwater voters rejected it decisively, with roughly 61% voting no. That defeat is part of why city staff are treating this new proposal carefully, and why they built in a competing-bid window rather than negotiating with Porter's company alone.

Zoning is also a factor. The property is designated Open Space Recreation, which means any accessory commercial space, like restaurants or retail tied to the complex, is capped at 25% of the site's total floor area and has to remain secondary to recreational use. City planners have said the sports-complex concept fits that designation because the primary use would stay recreational.

What happens next

The city's 30-day solicitation period gives other developers a chance to submit their own concepts for the site before anything moves further. Staff have said any final agreement would still require additional technical review, permit approvals, and further public meetings, as required under Florida's public-private partnership law, before a lease could be finalized. No timeline has been set for when the council might vote on an actual agreement.

Residents who want to weigh in on what happens to the Landings can find city meeting schedules and documents through Clearwater's official channels. Want to talk about it with your neighbors? Head over to our Community Forum to join the conversation. For more coverage of decisions shaping local government, visit our government and politics section, and follow Pinellas County Community Website and our Facebook page for updates as this story develops.