VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach City Council is set to vote Tuesday on the proposed sale of Virginia Beach National Golf Course to Dragas Companies.
The future of the roughly 350-acre property has been debated for months. Dragas Companies says it wants to keep the 18-hole golf course public while investing millions of dollars into renovations and adding 659 homes to part of the property.
Helen Dragas, CEO of Dragas Companies, said:
"It's about ensuring that this public asset fulfills its full potential and broadly serves all citizens."
The proposal comes after the city received information about the condition of the golf course and the millions of dollars in capital repairs it would need. Dragas says its plan would invest roughly $38 million into the property while also adding new housing.
The road to that proposal started in 2023, when the city received a report detailing the condition of the golf course. Months later, Dragas and another company sought public information from the city that Dragas used to develop an unsolicited proposal for Virginia Beach National.
In July 2024, the city and Dragas entered into a nondisclosure agreement. Dragas also requested negotiation exclusivity, but the city denied that request.
The city later opened the property to a broader request-for-proposals process, which ran from Oct. 12 through Nov. 21, 2025.
As the potential sale moved closer to a vote, opposition continued among some residents.
"There is overwhelming opposition and those of us standing in opposition are VB taxpayers," one resident said.
Questions also emerged from inside City Hall about how the proposal came together. Councilwoman Barbara Henley said:
"I wasn't a part of these preliminary discussions that were apparently going on. It's very likely that there's something besides the Dragas proposal that maybe would be better."
Then, on July 6, another challenge emerged. A federal lawsuit was filed against the City of Virginia Beach seeking to block the proposed sale.
The lawsuit raises questions involving the property's protected status, the Clean Water Act and a bald eagle nest located on the golf course. The city says it is aware of the lawsuit, but it had not been formally served at the time of its response.
According to court records, there is currently no court date scheduled for the case.
After years of discussion, competing proposals and a federal lawsuit, the decision is headed to City Council Tuesday. This will not be a simple majority vote. Because of the requirements for selling city-owned property, a supermajority is needed — meaning at least 9 members of the 11-member City Council must vote yes for the sale to move forward.
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