A Stonebridge House Tour

Stonebridge clubhouse is on left, with golf course extending behind it. All photos copyright Warren Redlich 2016.
Stonebridge clubhouse is on left, with the recently revamped golf course extending behind it. All photos copyright Warren Redlich 2016.

Stonebridge Country Club is in the northwest corner of Boca Raton, on the west side of 441 north of Clint Moore. The entrance is across from the 441 entrance to The Oaks. The community has just under 400 single family homes. It’s a great community to live in, with a recently renovated golf course, top-notch tennis courts and fitness center, and a gorgeous clubhouse with great food.
This Friday we were invited to an event at the clubhouse put on by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches. PBSO Deputy John Ledford was the main speaker, and he talked about safety concerns and practices for real estate professsionals.
Deputy John Ledford
Deputy John Ledford

The clubhouse is a fairly large space easily holding an event with well over 200 people.
stonebridge-conference-room
There was even more space in the next room which had the breakfast buffet.
stonebridge-buffet
Stonebridge hired John Iannotti as the club’s general manager in 2014. We’ve heard he’s doing a great job, especially with the food. Many people went back for seconds.
The event was followed by a tour of open houses. There are currently 26 homes in Stonebridge on the market with prices ranging from below $200K up to $530K, with one 3-bedroom house currently listed at only $125K as an estate sale. The lowest prices are on Spyglass Way in the northeast corner of the community. There were 17 transactions in the past year from $170K to $500K.
10570 Harich Lane
10570 Harich Lane

10570 Harich Lane is on the market for $355,000. It has four bedrooms and three full baths in 3000 square feet. The house seemed to be in mostly good shape. The backyard has a pool and faces woods. There’s nothing behind it but empty land and the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge.
10570-harich-pool
The master bedroom has a nice slider looking out on the pool.
10570-harich-master
And the kitchen is in pretty good condition.
10570-harich-kitchen


10402-stonebridge
Next up is 10402 Stonebridge Boulevard, on the market for $349K. It has four bedrooms and three baths in 3250 square feet, along with a screened-in pool.
10402-stonebridge-pool
On the way to the last house we noticed a gorgeous home not on the market at 10361 Parkstone:
10361-parkstone-front
Across the street sits 10360 Parkstone, which has large trees blocking any attempt to get a good photo of the front of the house.

10360 Parkstone - kitchen
10360 Parkstone – kitchen

This house has four bedrooms and four baths in nearly 3500 square feet, and is listed for $460K. It did not feel as big as the numbers indicate and we didn’t find it staged in an appealing way, though the kitchen does look very nice.
10360-parkstone-kitchen
The screen doors in the backyard seemed to need work, but this was the only house that had a nice view.
10360-parkstone-view
Overall this last house appears to be overpriced relative to the other houses on the market.
Like many country clubs, prices are low because of the mandatory membership which gets expensive. It starts with over $50K you need to pay to join the club (another $15K if you join for golf) and in the ballpark of $25K per year in dues, association fees and other expenses.
You can get a great house in Stonebridge for a very good price. It comes with a pleasant lifestyle if you can afford the annual expense.
stonebridge-fountain

Trump Announces Trump Sandalfoot

Donald Trump’s main holding company, The Trump Organization, LLC, announced yesterday that it will open the Trump Sandalfoot Golf Resort and Casino in West Boca. The company has purchased all the properties in West Sandalfoot, aka Watergate Estates.

The area comprises approximately 150 acres of land. The golf course is expected to take up 100 acres with a hotel and casino to occupy the remaining 50 acres.

Often Trump pays substantial sums for existing resorts, such as the $150M he paid for Doral, and then improves them. In this case he was able to acquire the various properties for significantly less, reportedly $150.
Also, Trump developments often face significant hurdles from local government, as he did in Mar-a-Lago. But with Sandalfoot it appears Palm Beach County is letting him do whatever he wants. West Boca’s county commissioner, Mary Lou Berger, said it was an easy call: “We did a survey and 85% of area residents preferred a landfill to the existing use. So a golf club is huge!”

The biggest hurdle Trump faced was a hold-out resident who did not want to sell. But he was able to win the man over after a conversation.

“I’m a great negotiator,” Trump said, “but in this case it was easy. We saw eye to eye on a lot of issues, especially social issues. So we found a way to include him on our team in a role that fits what we do. It’ll be great. I promise you. Believe me.”
Trump Sandalfoot is expected to open a year from now, on April 1, 2017. A rumored expansion into Palmetto Pines was nixed by Trump. “It doesn’t have the same cachet.”