Transactions, august 23, 2013

     One by one, the remaining assets of Lehman Brothers are finding new owners. The next to be sold will likely be Ironbridge, a partially built community in Colorado just a short drive from both Vail and Aspen. A local investment group has agreed to purchase the 533-acre spread, which features a 10-year-old, 18-hole golf course. “We think we can do a lot of great things for the neighborhood,” John Young, one of the prospective owners, told the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, “and we have put together a group of investors who believe in this project.” One of those investors partners is Jim Light, who co-owns Roaring Fork Club in nearby Basalt and who’s developed multiple golf properties in Florida, South Carolina, California, and other states. The partners plan to give Ironbridge a new name, Blue Heron Club, to finish its residential build-out, and to take some of the bite out its Arthur Hills-designed golf course. The layout is said to be among the state’s toughest.

     A Chinese-owned entity has assumed control of Moon Valley Country Club, in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. C-Bons International Golf Group is contributing $4.5 million to the purchase of the 52-year-old club, according to the Phoenix Business Journal, while the residents of the accompanying community are kicking in $1.5 million. Moon Valley filed for bankruptcy protection last summer. C-Bons appears to be an affiliate of C-Bons Holding (International) Ltd., a conglomerate based in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Forbes has determined that the parent company’s president, Liang Sheng Liang, is worth $590 million. C-Bons, which owns Western Skies Golf Club in nearby Gilbert, has installed Borders Golf Group to manage Moon Valley’s Dick Wilson-designed golf course.

     An embattled police pension fund has found a Chinese buyer for its financially challenged golf communities in northwestern Louisiana. Years ago, in actions that provoked outrage among some of its members, the Municipal Police Employees Retirement System paid more than $44 million to buy and renovate Golf Club at StoneBridge in Bossier City and Olde Oaks Golf Course outside Shreveport. Eugene Ji, a Baton Rouge-based consultant on Chinese trade, paid $3 million for the properties, which have been on the market since 2007. “It’s a good price,” Ji told the Baton Rouge Business Report. “It’s a challenge to take something that has been losing for over 10 years and see if we can turn that around.” Ji has no experience in the golf business. MPERS had previously tried to auction the properties but could find no bidders.

     The people who own Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China are closing in on the purchase of a resort community in Queensland, Australia. An affiliate of Hong Kong-based Golden Horse Holdings, Ltd. has agreed to buy Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort, a 260-acre property along the Sunshine Coast. Noosa Springs features overnight accommodations, meeting space, eateries, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Graham Papworth. Alan and Phil Starkey, who opened Noosa Springs in 1997, have been trying to sell it for two years. Dragon Lake spreads across 3,460 acres and features a pair of 27-hole golf complexes, at least one of which was designed by Brit Stenson of IMG Golf. Golden Horse is said to be intent on making its presence felt internationally and has recently made investments in Japan, Thailand, and Singapore.

     A family of Chinese hoteliers have acquired one of Ireland’s largest and best-known golf properties. The Kang family reportedly paid €20 million ($26.7 million) for Fota Island Resort, a 780-acre spread with three 18-hole golf courses in County Cork. “It’s a real vote of confidence in the Cork economy,” a real estate agent involved in the sale told the Irish Times. John Fleming had reportedly invested more than €90 million (more than $120 million) in Fota Island before he went broke. The Kangs were among several Chinese and Asian groups that showed interest in the property, but the Times reports that the finalists included two entities from Ireland and one from Australia.

     The only Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course in Indiana has new owners. Prairie View Golf Club in suburban Indianapolis -- a track that “could exist comfortably in golf meccas such as Pinehurst and Hilton Head,” according to Golf magazine -- has been sold to a group consisting of Gary Aletto and Cohoat & O’Neal Management Corporation. Cohoat & O’Neal operates Woodwind Golf Club in Westfield and The Golf Preserve at Franklin in Frankfort. One of its principals, “Doc” O’Neal, is a former president of Crooked Stick Golf Club and the developer of The Bridgewater Club, two of the capital city’s premier golf properties. Aletto’s group bought the 206-acre property from James F. Ackerman’s Cardinal Golf LLC, which opened the golf course in 1997. The sale was facilitated by Terence Vanek of the National Golf & Resort Properties Group.

     A Los Alamitos, California-based plastic surgeon has purchased Arizona Golf Resort in suburban Phoenix. Matthew Luxenberg reportedly paid $6.3 million for the 120-acre property, which includes a 186-room hotel, meeting space, and a Jack Snyder-designed, 18-hole golf course. The seller was LNR Property Corporation, the former investment arm of Lennar Corporation. LNR was recently acquired by Starwood Capital Group. Tidan USA, an affiliate of an investment firm based in Montreal, Canada, paid more than $22 million for the resort in 2007.

     The pension fund of an engineers’ union in California has sold 1,200 acres at the Rancho Murieta golf community to a homeowners’ group. Rancho Murieta has 2,500 houses and an equestrian center, but its centerpiece is a country club with a 36-hole golf complex. The new owner, a entity led by developer John Sullivan of Cosumnes River Land, plans to build a to-be-determined number of houses on 700 vacant acres. “People who live here love it,” Sullivan told the Sacramento Bee. Operating Engineers Local 3 uses part of Rancho Murieta as a training ground for operators of heavy construction equipment. Apprentices in the training program built the community’s golf courses, which were designed by Bert Stamps and Ted Robinson. Arnold Palmer redesigned the Stamps course in 1986.

     Caesars Entertainment Corporation has officially abandoned its plan to build a casino in Macau. The proof: The debt-riddled, Las Vegas-based company has agreed to sell the site of its planned gaming center. Pearl Dynasty Investments, Ltd. will pay $438 million for the 175-acre Caesars Golf Course, presumably to replace it with houses or some kind of commercial activity. The price seems to be a king’s ransom, but various sources say the site is the last remaining open space on the Cotai Strip and thus has great value. Caesars paid $577 million for what was then known as Orient Golf Club in 2007 (at the time, Caesars was known as Harrah’s), but it couldn’t squeeze a gaming license out of local government officials. Macau the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, and it reportedly generates five times the gambling revenues of the Las Vegas Strip.