An Alachua County judge on Dec. 21 issued a final judgment of foreclosure against the owner of the Gainesville Country Club, and has called for a public auction of the property to take place in early 2024.
Circuit Judge Donna M. Kleim issued her ruling after property owner Blue Water Real Estate Holding Inc., which is owned by Joseph Hernandez, failed in a last-minute attempt to sell the club.
Court records show Blue Water staved off an initial foreclosure judgment on Dec. 14 when it presented a contract to sell the club to Lee Kerr, of Ocala, for $3 million. The closing was scheduled for Dec. 20. It’s unclear as to why the sale fell through. The broker of the deal and the closing agent declined to comment last week when reached by The Sun.
The foreclosure judgment shows a total lien of about $2 million on the 294-acre property at 7300 SW 35th Way. The total includes $411,000 in unpaid interest at the default rate from September 2022 through December 2023, and $261,000 in plaintiff MK3C LLC’s attorney’s fees.
The court order says that if the full amount, including interest, is not paid, a public sale of the property will be held on Feb. 6
Blue Water also is on the hook for more than $500,000 to South Florida-based law firm Shutts & Bowen, which withdrew from the case over non-payment for legal services provided between August 2022 and September 2023.
The law firm’s decision to withdrawal from the case led to a court order that Blue Water hire new counsel by Oct. 3, which it failed to abide by. Previous case law has determined that corporations cannot represent themselves.
Blue Water’s failure to obtain legal counsel led to the initial planned foreclosure judgment earlier this month.
Gainesville Country Club is scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder at an auction in February. (File photo: Gainesville Sun/USA Today Network)
The foreclosure lawsuit was initially filed on Sept. 9, 2022, by Gainesville law firm Siegel Hughes Ross & Collins on behalf of MK3C, about two months after the club’s golf course closed, supposedly for maintenance, in July of that year.
The course’s closure coincided with the power being turned off by Gainesville Regional Utilities due to an unpaid bill of nearly $39,000. A notice of pending levy and seizure also was posted by the Alachua County Tax Collector’s Office
The lawsuit contended that as a result of poor maintenance for more than 30 days, and due to the power and water being turned off, the property could suffer from damage and waste, including the potential for mold growth in the clubhouse, algae in the pool, the collapse of the tennis building’s roof, and the deterioration of the golf course due to lack of water.
Alachua County property records show Blue Water purchased the club in December 2018 for $1.5 million.