Transactions, november 22, 2013

     The original home of the FedEx St. Jude Classic has avoided foreclosure by turning over its deteriorating assets to a familiar face. Colonial Country Club, a century-old facility in suburban Memphis, Tennessee, is now controlled by James W. Russell, a long-time member who paid $2 million for 372 acres appraised at $3.6 million. Russell aims to restore Colonial’s fading reputation and polish its featured attractions, which include a Joe Finger-designed, 36-hole golf complex and a 40,000-square-foot clubhouse. “Service and product -- we are going to make that second to none,” he told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “We want to offer a Mercedes,” he added, promising that the club would “not try to compete with everyone on price, but be very aggressive on the quality of our product.” Russell’s bid for the club was endorsed by a unanimous vote.

     The wealthy owner of Conover, North Carolina’s Rock Barn Golf & Spa, a resort that hosts an annual event on the Champions Tour, is closing in on his second golf property. Next month, Don Beaver expects to buy and begin upgrading Statesville Country Club, a 70-year-old facility in Statesville with an 18-hole golf course and a clubhouse in need of improvement. The club defaulted on some loans earlier this year -- its president recently described it as having “run out of money” and “run out of options” – and it persuaded Beaver to save its skin. Beaver, who made his money in health care, owns two minor-league baseball teams in North Carolina and another in New Orleans, Louisiana. He made a national name for himself in the late 1990s, when he tried to buy the Minnesota Twins and move them to Greensboro. At Statesboro, Beaver said in a comment published by the Statesville Record & Landmark, “the emphasis will be to grow the membership so the club can have the revenues for a first-class facility.” To attract new members, Beaver has promised that “dues will remain reasonable.”

     In an effort to seize control of its destiny and preserve property values, a homeowners’ group in Zachary, Louisiana has voted to purchase the centerpiece of its community. Changing hands will be Copper Mill Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, “links-style” golf course that’s said to be “reminiscent of those in Scotland.” Ross Bruce, the developer of Copper Mill, had recently complained about the time and money involved in running the community’s nine-year-old golf course and had vowed to close it at the end of the year. He parted with the annoyance for $1.2 million. The home owners, who expect to close on the transaction next month, plan to invest as much as $1.7 million in improvements to the club. “We’re committed to providing an excellent golf experience, value to our residents, and a premier recreation destination in the Baton Rouge metro area,” the HOA’s president told the Zachary Plainsman-News. To achieve their goals, the prospective new owners may solicit a private-sector management company.

     After 20 years of operating Quail Hollow Golf Course, Dave Hendrickson is willing to give it away. And the city of Boise, Idaho seems poised to take it. “Quail Hollow is a well-managed business,” the city’s parks and recreation director told the Idaho Statesman. “The course is coming to the city in outstanding condition, both financially and structurally.” The 18-hole course, which opened in 1982, was co-designed by Robert Von Hagge and Bruce Devlin. Pending acceptance of the gift by elected officials, it’ll become the city’s second course.

     By the end of the year, a financially squeezed private club in Fort Smith, Arkansas will likely have new owners. Lance Beaty and Stephen Nelson are reportedly completing the due diligence on their planned purchase of Fianna Hills Country Club, a 40-year-old property. The club features an 18-hole golf course that was renovated by Carter Morris in 2004 and a clubhouse that one of the sellers acknowledges “is due for a major renovation.” Assuming that the transaction is completed, the prospective owners will attempt to “reposition” Fianna Hills and make it appeal to what Beaty calls “a younger audience and demographic.” He told the City Wire that “there will not be another venue in this market that will provide the range of amenities, event, and social activities that we will have here.”

     Northfield Mount Hermon School didn’t have to look far to find a buyer for its ancient golf course. The prep school, in northwestern Massachusetts, has agreed to sell Northfield Golf Club to Ed Snow, who’s operated the nine-hole track since 2011. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but the school, which has had the property on the market since March, had been asking for $1.25 million. The school says that the course was designed by Alex Findlay and that “the current layout opened for play in 1912.”

     As its members gradually disappear, an equity club in Marathon, Florida is anticipating a change of ownership. A group led by the city’s finance director has agreed to buy the 53-year-old Florida Keys Country Club, pending approval of its redevelopment proposal. In a nutshell, the proposal consists of replacing the property’s clubhouse with a hotel and some “vacation cottages,” building a new clubhouse, and making unspecified but “significant” improvements to its 18-hole, Mark Mahannah-designed golf course. If all goes as planned, the sale would take place in early 2014 and the bulldozers would arrive a few months later. The Florida Keys Reporter says that the club, which opened as Sombrero Country Club, once had as many as 280 members. It currently has 49 members with an ownership stake and 26 “club members.”

     A non-profit group created to preserve open space near Kenyon College has purchased an 18-hole golf course. In August, Philander Chase Corporation paid $450,000 for Tomahawk Golf Course, an executive-length track located a little more than a mile from the college’s campus, in Gambier, Ohio. The 3,605-yard layout, originally called Tomahawk Hollow Golf Course, has offered a “casual and welcoming atmosphere” since 1962, according to an online source. A spokesperson for PCC told the Kenyan Collegian that the property’s future would be determined sometime this winter.