NFL ALUMNI, DEVELOPER TO BUILD FLORIDA RESORT

Source: NFL Alumni

April 12, 1999
The NFL Alumni and a St. Augustine developer are teaming up to build the Legends at St. Augustine, a planned 3,000-acre resort community in St. Johns County.The development, with an estimated value of $300 million, was announced Thursday and is designed to serve retired athletes and their families, as well as the public.

Details of the development are still sketchy. Plans include homes, stores, a water park and other attractions. St. Johns County Commission chairman, Marc Jacalone, said he is "very excited" about the added growth for St. Johns, which already has the World Golf Village and a planned 14,000-home community announced last month.

The Legends at St. Augustine is to be located east of Interstate 95 along Florida 16, extending east to the Intracoastal Waterway. The project is estimated to be 3,000 acres, with construction to begin this fall, according to Frank Krauser, president and chief executive officer of NFL Alumni headquartered in Fort Lauderdale. Krauser said the entire project could take six to eight years to complete. NFL Alumni is a non-profit organization that handles issues that relate to retired football players.

According to NFL Alumni's official magazine, the project will include a "town center" overlooking a lagoon; three golf courses, each with its own clubhouse; a 20-acre water park with the look of Mayan temples, with 2,000 feet of water slides; a resort hotel; a time-share vacation resort; a resort designed for recreational vehicle owners; and single and multi-family homes. It will also include a hotel, conference center and sports emporium.

Robert Laurence, president and CEO of Lorrington Development Corp. of St. Augustine, which will develop the project, is originally from Canada and moved to St. Augustine 12 years ago. Since then, he has done a medley of small and medium-size residential and commercial projects in the St. Augustine area, including the Sea Winds condos on Beach Boulevard/A1A; Ocean Gate Resort; Plantation Point Inc., under construction in north San Augustine; Island Inn Resort Inc., now the Ramada Limited on Beach Boulevard/A1A; and Prestige Inlet Estates, a land development project.

He has also developed time-share resorts in the United States and the Caribbean.

NFL Alumni stages several golf tournaments across the country to raise money for charities in 25 cities, including Jacksonville. The tournament in Jacksonville -- NFL Alumni Jacksonville Tournament -- will be held June 14 at the TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.