By Design - February 2019

9 ASGCA DESIGN EXCELLENCE BANYAN CAY RESORT & GOLF Good economics Architects devise money-saving plan for developers of Banyan Cay Golf & Resort in Florida D evelopment firm Banyan Cay LLC turned to Nicklaus Design and Sanford Golf esign to help transform a failing 36-hole club into a new resort. President Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, had been through a period of financial difficulty that culminated in bankruptcy, with the club eventually falling into the hands of its bankers. The new owners formulated a plan to create the Banyan Cay Resort & Golf complex, which would include an 18-hole course, extensive practice facilities, hotel and resort residences. This would mean using the site of the former North course for housing and resort development, and completely renovating the former South course to a far higher standard. The first step in the process was to gain land use and zoning approvals to develop over 100 acres of the 250-acre site. A major challenge was the removal of highly-organic soil that was not suitable for buildings infrastructure. Following hundreds of soil borings, over 250,000 cubic yards of unsuitable material was identified to be removed from the proposed development parcels. This was to be replaced with soil that met the structural requirements for roads and buildings. This process could potentially be very costly. The architects devised a more cost- effective solution. “A 10-acre borrow pit was dug on the proposed practice range site,” says John Sanford, ASGCA Past President. “The sandy material excavated from the pit was hauled to the adjacent development site to fill the areas for roads, homes, the new clubhouse and resort hotel. “The final quantity of poor soil was over 300,000 cubic yards, so the practice range was raised to accommodate the additional material and provide better definition,” says Sanford. “The extra material also allowed for increased buffers on the perimeter of the practice range.” According to Sanford, this approach was just 10 percent of the cost that would have been incurred if the unsuitable material had been replaced with material from outside of the site. “Without this solution the project would not have been economically feasible,” said Sanford. Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Golf course architect: Jack Nicklaus, ASGCA Fellow, and Chris Cochran, ASGCA Nicklaus Design www.nicklaus.com/design John Sanford, ASGCA Past President Sanford Golf Design www.sanfordgolfdesign.com Project summary: Development firm Banyan Cay LLC employed Nicklaus Design and Sanford Golf Design to transform a failing 36- hole private club into an 18-hole resort course, with space for development. The project team devised a cost-effective solution to a major engineering challenge to ensure the project was economically feasible. Partners: ADS (drain pipe and fixtures); Brookside Laboratories (testing); Capillary Concrete (bunkers); Golf Agronomics Supply & Handling (shipping and handling); GT Irrigation (irrigation installer); JW Turf (turf); Ryan Golf (construction); Toro (irrigation) Banyan Cay Photo: Jim Mandeville