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Texas - The PGA of America is leaving Florida for a $520 million development in the Dallas area with two golf courses that will bring major championship golf back to Texas.
The decision Tuesday followed approval by the Frisco City Council and other government entities. The PGA of America, for four decades based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, initially plans to employ at least 100 people at its new headquarters.
The move is not expected until the summer of 2022.
Under the agreement, the PGA Championship will be held on one of the two courses in 2027 and 2034.
The agreement also brings the Senior PGA Championship twice, the Women's PGA Championship twice and possibly a Ryder Cup.
The last major in Texas was the 1969 US Open in Houston, when Orville Moody won the US Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston. Texas was seen as too hot for the PGA Championship, a problem that no longer exists with the major moving from August to May starting next year.
The PGA of America will have two Senior PGAs and two Women's PGA Championships at its new courses during the decade after they open, along with five of its other tournaments, such as the Professional National Championship.
The PGA of America has been based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the last four decades. Frisco is about 30 miles north of Dallas.
It will invest $30 million to build a 100 000-square-foot headquarters. Most of the cost of the development falls to Omni Stillwater Woods, a joint venture by Omni Hotels & Resorts with Stillwater Capital and Woods Capital.
Omni Stillwater Woods will spend $455 million to buy the land and build the hotel, conference centr, retail space, parking and the golf courses. The golf courses will be owned by the city, and more than 300 high school golfers will practice there.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Gil Hanse, who designed the Olympic golf course in Rio, has been chosen to do one of the courses.
The other course and the short course are to be handled by Beau Welling, an architectural disciple of Tom Fazio and now the chief architect for Tiger Woods Design.
Frisco and its development arms, along with the school district, are to contribute no more than $35 toward building public facilities.
The city will provide performance incentives for 20 years, which would include hotel occupancy and retail. Those incentives could be worth up to $74 million.
