While it may not be completely, officially, you-can-stick-a-fork-in-it dead, it's become apparent that the much-ballyhooed, Tiger Woods-designed golf course in Dubai won't be built anytime soon.
The course's developer, blaming “market conditions that do not support high-end luxury real estate,” announced this week that it currently has no plans to resume construction of the long-delayed course. Though it suggested that work on the course could resume in the future -- hey, things change -- it's clear that Woods' course has become yet another victim of the Great Recession.
“It's been put on hold for right now,” Woods told the Associated Press. “We've got six completed holes and a few that were about to be grassed before construction was halted. Everything is on hold.”
The golf course was to be the featured attraction of Tiger Woods Dubai, an ultra-expensive community that was master-planned to have 22 palaces, 75 mansions, 100 villas, a boutique hotel, and a high-end shopping area. The cheapest house was priced at about $11 million, and no, none of them have been built.
The site is now a veritable ghost town. The golf course, called Al Ruwaya Golf Club, should have opened in the fall of 2009.
Tiger Woods Dubai was supposed to be part of a huge desert spread known as Dubailand, which is also dying a slow death. Dubailand's main draws were to be a collection of theme parks -- Universal Studios, Legoland, Six Flags -- none of which have been built.
Tiger Woods Dubai's developer, Dubai Properties Group, is an affiliate of Dubai Holding, a cash-strapped, government-controlled entity. AP says that Dubai Holding “is deeply in debt and has been locked in talks with creditors to renegotiate the terms of its liabilities.”
Real estate values in Dubai hit their peak in mid 2008 and have fallen by about half since then.
dubai Architect for Hire
You think Jack Nicklaus charges too much -- still $2 million or so -- to design a “signature” golf course?
Tiger Woods was paid an eye-popping $10 million to design his unfinished course in Dubai, according to a report from Arabian Business. And on top of his design fee, he was to receive royalties on the sale of the pricey villas ($11 million), mansions ($15 million), and palaces (don't even ask) that were to surround his course.
Arabian Business also says that Woods planned to build a mansion -- 16,500 square feet, with a gym, a theater, a library, and a pool -- beside his course.
While $10 million is a lot of scratch, and a crazy-large sum for a first-time designer, it's a far cry from the $25 million that Woods was rumored to be getting for the work.
I'm wondering how much of the $10 million went to Woods’s design partner, Beau Welling.
mexico Will Punta Brava Debut in 2012?
A reporter for Forbes says that Tiger Woods' golf course in Mexico, which hasn't yet broken ground, is “on track to open in the second half of 2012.”
The course is to be the centerpiece of Punta Brava, an ultra high-end private community that's apparently still going to be built on 264 acres just south of Ensenada, 65 miles south of San Diego, California. The rest of Punta Brava (“Wild Point”) was originally planned, back in 2008, to consist of 40 estate lots, 80 villas, a 20-villa private hotel, an ocean club, a wellness center, and a spa. The lots were to range in price from $3 million to $12 million.
Woods’ 6,835-yard golf course will take shape on a rocky peninsula that extends seven miles into the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of Baja California. Brian Tucker, one of the project's developers, said in an e-mail to Kurt Badenhausen that 17 of the course's holes will be located on or adjacent to the ocean and that golfers will need to play “over half a dozen shots” over water. He also said that he and his partners were creating “something special –- a true golf club -– not just another real estate development with golf.”
Punta Brava is being developed by Flagship Group, a firm co-founded by Brady Oman and Hal Jones. The group's partners include “Red” McCombs, a co-founder of Clear Channel Communications, a long-time member of the Forbes 400, and a former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Denver Nuggets.
The course was originally scheduled to open this year. Tucker blamed the construction delay on difficulties involved in securing environmental permits, but he says the permits are now in hand.
The developers haven't yet begun to sell the community's lots. According to Tucker,
“After the course is open, the club will have a real estate offering, but when it does, it will only be to the members.”
united states The Low-Down on High Carolina
Despite having sold only 42 lots, the developer of Cliffs at High Carolina says he's still “fully committed” to building the community's Tiger Woods-designed golf course.
“We've invested $150 million in this project, so we are fully committed, and Tiger is fully committed to seeing this through to completion,” Jim Anthony told the Asheville Citizen-Times.
The bad news: the construction won't wrap up anytime soon.
Anthony told the paper that he now hopes to open the course in 2013. Last year he said he was shooting for late 2011 or 2012, already a delay from the original construction schedule.
Anthony also provided a construction update, as he said that “the mass grading [of five holes and the driving range] are two-thirds complete.”
Anthony has been selling lots in Cliffs at High Carolina since 2008. At build-out, the 3,000-acre community in Swannanoa, an eastern suburb of Asheville, is supposed to have up to 1,200 houses.
Don't fret, though. The news from North Carolina is still better than the news from Dubai.
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