UPDATE: The owner reached out to us and says remediation of the course will likely start early next year after a new developer gets zoning approval or just before approval. The clean-up will not start immediately after July 31 this year.

NEW TAMPA, Fla. — Pebble Creek Golf Course, a 54-year staple in the New Tampa community will shut down permanently on July 31st. 

The shutdown will include Mulligan's, an Irish Pub and Restaurant attached to the clubhouse.

Bill Place, the owner of Ace Golf which owns Pebble Creek Golf Course, says a steady decline in golfers in recent years and increasing costs associated with course maintenance no longer makes the golf course profitable.

Previous efforts to sell the golf course to a new owner have failed.

Place says Ace Golf is searching for a developer to eventually build homes on what is now the 18-hole golf course.

"It would be better if we could manage this to get the best alternative use possible."

At the end of July, Place says crews will begin digging up tee boxes and greens to mitigate contamination from years of heavy fertilizer use, which is an environmental requirement before any development of the course can happen.

As those areas are cleaned up, Ace Golf will search for a developer to buy the property.

At least one developer has been interested in the property in recent years but backed out when the contaminated areas were discovered.

The original plans included enough room to build an additional 600 homes on the golf course, however, Place says ultimately around 240 homes would be built under a plan he hopes the HOA would approve.

If the property sits vacant with no development, the Pebble Creek neighborhood could suffer a similar fate as Walden Lake, a neighborhood near Plant City that saw its golf course shutdown in 2013, only to become overgrown.

That golf course remains abandoned 9 years later, with a rezoning effort still looming.

"It's a lose-lose for everyone. And that's why from the start we've been working with the HOA, making it clear to possible builders that they have to work with the HOA. There's no other way to continue forward."

Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to Pebble Creek's HOA but did not receive a callback.

Some homeowners previously were not on board with plans to develop the golf course and could voice opposition to the zoning change needed to build more homes in the community.

A zoning change would be the next step in the process once the course shuts down, which could happen as early as later this year.