REUNION, Fla. -- The low-laying scrub and exhausted orange groves of Central Florida continue to be transformed into a golf oasis for visitors and residents. Reunion Resort & Club, located 20 miles west of downtown Orlando in the Interstate 4 Orlando/Tampa corridor, is a prime example that this area's growth has no bounds.
A $2 billion, 2,300-acre resort community, Reunion Resort & Club, features 8,000 varied accommodations, including hotels, single family homes, vacation ownership units and condominiums, and is the latest -- and perhaps most ambitious -- creation of The Ginn Company.
Arnold Palmer's Legacy course (7,010 yards, par 72) and Tom Watson's Independence course (7,257 yards, par 72) recently opened to residents, members and resort guests. The Tradition, a Nicklaus Signature Course, is scheduled to open later this year.
"Bobby (Ginn) really gave us a lot if latitude to build these courses and that was fantastic," Watson said.
Ginn also stockpiled thousands of trees on the property's south side during the design and building phases and transplanted them back to the courses, which gives the courses a much more mature look than newer courses -- particularly in the Central Florida -- would otherwise have.
"A lot of developers wouldn't spend the time and money to save those trees and give a course that look when it's finished. But Bobby did it anyway," Watson said.
Ginn began his career working for his father in the town of Hampton, S.C., started modestly, building four or five houses a year. It wasn't long before he was building hundreds of homes. In 1971, Ginn got involved in his first golf club project, a community called Pleasant Point, S.C., and moved on to Hilton Head where he developed and operated golf courses and hotels.
Among the company's other properties are Tesoro Preserve, a 1,400-acre residential community in Port S. Lucie, Fla., that includes courses by Watson and Palmer; Bella Collina, a 1,900-acre private golf community (a Nick Faldo design) outside of Orlando; and The Club at Hammock Beach, a condominium high-rise resort overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Nicklaus-designed Ocean Hammock Golf Club in Palm Coast, Fla.
The Ginn Co., including Ginn Clubs and Resorts, has sales in excess of $900 million and employs more than 1,000 people. The Reunion Resort, according to the company, has generated approximately $500 million in sales since it opened in late 2001. Reunion also has plans for a water park (scheduled for a 2005 opening), riding stables, tennis center, and a spa and fitness center. Many of Reunion's condominiums (one to three bedrooms) will be put in a rental pool for resort guests.
In addition, a boutique-style hotel next to the golf clubhouse is on the drawing board as is a resort hotel on Reunion's west side adjacent to the Tradition Course. The Ginn Company will operate and manage each hotel.
"We built Reunion as a place for people to get away from the noise and for (visitors) to stay longer. It's a 'reunion' of family and friends," Ginn said.
And despite the presence of the two -- soon to be three -- big-name golf courses, Ginn insists Reunion "is not really in the (Orlando) golf market."
"We built Reunion for our members and guests," Ginn said. "We're not trying to take market share away from other courses in this market or other markets. We bring our members and guests with us; I think that's what's happening more and more."
