Developer pulls out of Sarasota Polo Club sale

Developer David Meunier's dreams for the Sarasota Polo Club were big. He didn't realize the project to reach those dreams would be just as big.

On Monday, Meunier announced he has decided to opt out of the deal he had struck with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch to buy the Sarasota Polo Club.

A 90-day due diligence phase expired last week and Meunier asked for an extension as he struggled to make up his mind.

"In the end, the task was much bigger than I anticipated," Meunier said. "I asked for 100 days (in the due diligence phase) because I wanted to find other scenarios where I could make this work. But I didn't want to hold up SMR with the polo season coming up."

Meunier, who lives in Coral Gables, said a study of the complex's seven main polo fields (the venue has nine overall) showed it would take more than $1 million to get all the fields into (world class) playing condition. He brought in Alejandro Battro of the Battro Polo Fields in Argentina, to do the field study.

He said the money wasn't the issue, though, but the time involved was problematic for him. He wanted to dive into the project immediately and he said to get the fields the way he wanted, it would take more than a year where they would be closed for use.

He said he was facing substantial red tape to build another pavilion on the property and to add other buildings to reach his goal of making it a multi-sport facility that could host dressage and jumping as well as polo.

"Sometimes it is better not to do a good deal than to possible agree to a bad one," he said. "This is just something I don't feel capable of taking on."

Meunier, 51, is a former professional race car driver known for rehabilitating run-down properties in the Miami area and turning apartments into condominiums. He said he has purchased 48 multi-family properties this year throughout Sarasota because he was planning to move to the area to oversee development of the Sarasota Polo Club.

He planned to use money generated from the properties to help fund improvements at the Sarasota Polo Club.

"The facility is so beautiful and it has so much potential," he said. "Whoever takes it, it will take a lot of time, but it will be profitable in the long run."

A stipulation of the sale would have been that Meunier would keep the site as an equine facility.

The Sarasota Polo Club was founded in 1991.

Meunier said he eventually wanted to make polo an entire weekend attraction for fans while also doing whatever he could to upgrade the facility so it could attract "high-class" equine competitions. He said using the site for other events during the off-season for polo would be key.

The 51-year-old Meunier had been taking polo lessons at the Sarasota Polo Club but suffered a fall in June that left him with a serious shoulder injury.

Although Meunier pulled out of the sale, Lisa Barnott, the director of marketing and communications for SMR, said the polo season would be held as usual this season. The season begins in January.