Brief History of Events

This information was gleaned from a review of Meadoword articles from 2015 – 2019 + one Herald-Tribue article + other 2018 MCA communications. So, this represents only what MCA has told its Homeowners.

It is provided as both a refresher for those who have been in The Meadows for a long time and background for those who are newer residents. Excerpts of all the relevant Meadoword articles from 2015-2019 have been aggregated in this document for your reading pleasure (and as back-up for this summary).

Any additional info that readers can provide would be greatly appreciated, as well as notification of any inaccuracies. Please provide back-up in the form of Meadoword articles, or communications from MCA or TMCC to ForTheMeadows@SarasotaMeadows.com.

1990 – TMCC members purchase the recreational and building assets from Taylor Woodrow (the original developer of The Meadows) and make it a private club. Members become equity stakeholders (owners) of the club. There are 1,500 members including 900 golf members.

At some point Members’ equity is devalued to $1 so that new members can join TMCC without having to buy in. [reader help on when this happened would be appreciated]

2004 – TMCC is within a few months of not being able to make its loan payment to the Bank. (MW Jan 2016)

2008 – TMCC loses 100 full members representing $1 million of income. (MW Jan 2016)

2014 – 2017 – TMCC has average operating losses of $1+ million per year and is approaching bankruptcy. Anecdotal information indicates that TMCC became increasingly secretive about its financial results. (from TMCC Form 990’s)

2016 – TMCC has 900 members including 300 golf members, (1/3^rd of the 1990 golf members) . TMCC opens Highlands and Groves courses to public play. (MW May 2016)

2014 – mid 2017 – TMCC and MCA works with a developer to sell certain unutilized property for commercial and residential development. This deal dies in August 2017. (many MW articles which are largely focused on convincing MCA Homeowners on the merits of the deal)

Later 2017 – TMCC works with the same developer to sell all its assets (including the golf courses) for much greater residential and commercial development. Developer committed to keeping the courses open only through 2018. Late in the process the developer drops their offer from $20 million to $7 million (anecdotal: the developer became aware of what dire straits TMCC was in). This deal dies in December 2017, and TMCC’s situation is desperate.

Note: Various rezoning applications were completed to allow the above development to take place.

Jan 2018 – MCA purchases $3 million debt of TMCC to avoid their bankruptcy to a third party.

May 2018 – MCA purchases TMCC assets for $6 million (additional $3 million, and the debt is extinguished). MCA leases the assets right back to TMCC for free for 3 years “to help them get back on their feet”, and indicates the “payments would be adjusted” in 2021 [Note: payments were NOT adjusted in 2021].

In various Meadoword articles, MCA commits to following up on the development opportunities that were planned in 2017. These would generate cash to pay of debt and expand the number of homeowners in the community (as well as the MCA assessment base). [Note: There has been no indication that this was seriously pursued.]

June 2018 – present – Ongoing appeals to MCA Homeowners to purchase TMCC memberships to help to fix TMCC’s financial woes.

Dec 2019 – MCA announces the Renaissance Access Plan (RAP) in the Meadoword, providing very limited access to facilities owned by MCA but leased to TMCC. The announcement does NOT reveal that the MCA Homeowners are paying $600,000 to TMCC for this access.  TMCC reports $500,000 for RAP income in Feb 2020 income statement, which means MCA quickly paid them $500,000 after announcing RAP.

June 2021 – Lease of MCA’s recreational assets and buildings to TMCC is renewed for 3 years on substantially the same terms ($10/year). Some minor additions to RAP.

Late 2022 – The fitness/wellness center is opened and becomes part of the assets MCA owns but TMCC leases for $10 per year.

TMCC has a wide variety of golf membership categories, including some that are no longer offered but are “grandfathered” for those who had them when they were discontinued. Based on a recent membership list, we estimate that there is the equivalent of about 250 full golf members (family golf members only pay 25% of full privileges, seasonal members only pay for a few months, some categories pay a substantially lower fee). When TMCC became private it had 900 golf members (likely included family members).

Early 2023 – 2 “outside” candidates run for MCA Director positions. MCA actively campaigns against them through various MCA email communications. They are unsuccessful.

Early 2024 – http://www.SarasotaMeadows.com is re-booted to inform MCA Homeowners. TMCC financial statements which were always required by law to be available to the public, but had been closely guarded, are provided to all.

June 2024 – Lease of MCA owned assets to TMCC is up for renewal. Terms to be determined.