Bonita Bay Club members buy club, real estate from developer

BUYER: Bonita Bay Club Inc. (principal: Phillip Ashkettle, David Bowers, Henri Dyner, Lance Johnson, Peter Jones and Cindy White), Bonita Springs

SELLER: Bonita Bay Properties Inc.

PROPERTY: 26669 Country Club Drive, Bonita Springs

PRICE: $7.5 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: David L. Cook Attorney at Law, Bonita Springs

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Members of the new Bonita Bay Club, operating as the Bonita Bay Club Turnover Committee, purchased the real estate of the Bonita Bay Club for $7.5 million.

The purchase was one piece of the member's purchase of all the club's assets from Bonita Bay Group for $11.5 million.

The new club purchased the 90-hole championship golf course, practice facilities, the East and West clubhouses, 18 tennis courts, a fitness club, a swimming pool, parking lot areas and maintenance facilities. The purchase also included all the trademarks, intellectual property, logos, Web sites and membership information related to the Bonita Bay Club.

The new club will grant a license to East Course Holdings LLC, a Bonita Bay Group subsidiary, to use the east golf course for resort play for three years — as long as it pays the new club.

Club members will lease the Backwater Jack's restaurant from the club's former owner.

Almost 1,900 people have joined the new club.

The Bonita Bay Club sale is the most recent community amenity sell off by the financially troubled developer Bonita Bay Group. It has already sold The Commons Club, The Club at Mediterra and Shadow Wood Country Club to members.