A proposed golf course and entertainment venue that was part of Collier County’s efforts to rehabilitate a county owned golf course in Golden Gate has reached a difficult time.

Last year the commissioners bought the 167-acre golf course at the intersection of Collier Boulevard and Golden Gate Parkway for $ 29 million. The plans for the site include workers’ housing and golf. A future veteran nursing home was also discussed as an option.

But commissioners postponed a scheduled discussion of the property on Tuesday after a seller who agreed to build a golf course and entertainment venue there asked the county to contribute $ 7 million to the project.

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The chairman of the commission, Burt Saunders, of whose district Golden Gate is a part, asked that the item be postponed to the commission meeting on October 27th.

He said towards the end of Tuesday’s meeting that negotiations with ClubCorp had not “gone quite as smoothly” as the county employees had with a company planning to bring a distribution center to Collier.

Commissioners selected Dallas-based ClubCorp earlier this year to build and operate an entertainment venue, including a high-tech driving range and 12-hole golf course, on part of the Golden Gate Country Club property.

ClubCorp sent a letter to the county earlier this month asking Collier to deposit $ 7 million, a “major change,” the county staff wrote in a report to commissioners from the company’s original proposal to re-course to develop and host a “free of charge” or “to build additional investment” of the district.

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“ClubCorp came back asking the county to put $ 7 million into the golf course,” Saunders said. “This is obviously a non-starter. And the staff are coming back to talk to them to see if there is any way to solve this project or to save it.”

In its October 7 letter, the company said it has “performed significant due diligence to assess current conditions and the improvements needed to re-design and reopen the course.”

“During our review, we determined that the existing irrigation systems need to be completely replaced and the amount of work required to redesign the course is significant,” wrote company officials.

To make the project a reality, the company is demanding that the county contribute $ 7 million.

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