Northgate is the vision of developer Jack Thoner, who is also a resident of Northgate. Even though he began this golf and luxury living community over 28 years ago, Thoner is still creating his “achievement of the first order.” Long-term developer commitment is probably the first underlying lesson of Northgate. It’s hard to project a sense of timelessness and patient progress in a build-and-turn atmosphere. Thoner’s philosophy of building when the time is right is evident in the continual improvements to the course and infrastructure. There is new construction in the form of an intimate cluster of new homes positioned around a beautiful pond adjacent to one of Northgate’s lush fairways. Even in its third decade, Northgate is changing, adapting, vibrant and still executing on blending nature with high residential lifestyle.



Northgate’s initial routing of 18 holes was carved out of the gulf coast forest by the team of von Hagge-Devlin. The development had already begun a few years earlier but land was preserved for the eventual course construction. Another nine was added several years later, and remarkably, it was the golf course architects that planned the residential lots of that phase of development. Jack Thoner actually asked vonHagge to plat the impacted residential land parcels so he could early on judge the esthetic quality of his future lot developments. Such was the collaborative trust between architect and developer, along with a mutual respect for each other’s work driving toward a common purpose – the golfer had to sense that homes and golf course belonged together. This was to be a place for both.