If you live in northeast Palm Bay, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the slow, steady transformation happening around the old Port Malabar Country Club Golf Course.
When my family bought our home bordering the north side of the property back in 2015, the fairways had already gone silent. We never got to see it operate as an active golf course, but for years, it served a different purpose for us. We used to take long, quiet walks along the old golf cart paths.
As the years passed, the fairways grew thick and overgrown, but nature didn’t let the space go to waste. Wildlife quickly claimed the land. On our walks, we’d spot an endless number of local birds, regularly see foxes and coyotes weaving through the brush, and we even caught a glimpse of a bobcat once or twice. It was a pocket of green hidden right in our neighborhood. It would’ve made for a fantastic nature preserve, but economic realities are what they are.
Over the last few months, the bulldozers arrived.
The Facts Behind the Growth
What we are watching unfold is the final phase of a residential project called Country Club Estates. Over the last decade, this master project has slowly transformed 172 acres of the old golf course into almost 400 homes.
This final 74-acre slice right next to us contains 199 of those units. This breaks down into 153 single-family lots and 46 duplex lots.
To blend the new construction with the existing neighborhood, the city required the developer to place single-story homes with wider plots along the outer perimeter.
The Real-Time View
I walked over to the new model homes today to take a few pictures of the progress.
Fortunately, our backyard overlooks a pond, which gives us a scenic buffer from the new homes. But standing out there today, looking at the houses under construction, it hit me: this is simply what happens when a small city starts turning into a large city.
Growth is inevitable, and our area is currently in high demand. But as we prepare to welcome hundreds of new neighbors to our neck of the woods, it’s worth taking a moment to remember the quiet, wild spaces that came before the concrete.
Every neighborhood has places that quietly disappear over time. For some people, this was a golf course. For others, it became a walking trail or a place to watch wildlife. Soon it will be another neighborhood with hundreds of families making memories of their own.
What are your memories of the old Port Malabar Golf Course? Did you ever play golf here? How is the new construction affecting your view? Hit reply or leave a comment below to let me know!
— Nathan
This video is a little shaky but I caught this coyote in the backyard back in December (2025). I get the feeling he was looking back one last time before heading to new wilderness.