Transactions, april 4, 2014

     An investor based in Dalian, China has acquired an 18-hole golf course in greater Myrtle Beach. Shengwen Lan reportedly paid $1.5 million for Crown Park Golf Club, a 13-year-old venue in Longs, South Carolina. Lan also agreed to assume roughly $500,000 worth of equipment leases. The Myrtle Beach Sun-News reports than Lan operates through entities called Dailian Jiayiruitai Group Company, Dailian Virtue & Faith Realty Company, and, for the purchase of Crown Park, Rose Park LLC. Previously, he purchased a 100-acre parcel adjacent to the club that will eventually sprout houses. Crown Park’s course was designed by Robbie Byers, a member of the family that sold the property.

     Nick Faldo’s golf course in Hutchinson, Kansas, an 18-hole track that went dark in 2009, may enjoy a second life. The course, part of the aborted Cottonwood Hills community, has been sold to an investment group led by Drayton Alldritt, a banker based in Wichita. Alldritt and his partners, operating as S&S Cottonwood LLC, aim to reopen the course next year and eventually build a clubhouse for it. S&S Cottonwood bought the 619-acre community from a Tennessee-based bank that controlled its mortgage, reportedly for a price just north of $1.67 million. The community had been initiated by Lane Neville, one of Alldritt’s long-time acquaintances. Faldo once called Cottonwood Hills “a design that will truly stand the test of time.” The course operated for just two years before its demise.

     ClubCorp Holdings hasn’t officially announced the amount it paid for Prestonwood Country Club, but the Dallas Morning News reports that the price was $11.2 million. Eric Affeldt, ClubCorp’s CEO, claims that the 36-hole facility will be “reinvented,” a word that that marketers likely put into his mouth. The company has fallen in love with the word reinvent and now uses it whenever it does a makeover.

     A fast-growing company in Ohio has acquired its fourth golf property. New Era Golf Ohio has reportedly paid $2.3 million for New Albany Links, an 18-hole track that serves as the centerpiece of a golf community in suburban Columbus. The seller was a group led by Joe Ciminello, who owns the accompanying community. New Era, which was established in 2012, markets a membership plan that offers playing privileges at New Albany and its other courses: Glenross Golf Club in Delaware, Royal American Golf Club in Galena, and Bent Tree Golf Club in Sunbury. The firm is currently negotiating to add the financially troubled Golf Club of Dublin to its collection. The club in Dublin, which bills itself as “the only true links golf experience in the Midwest,” is controlled by its lender, General Electric Credit Equities.

     A group led by Chris Sauer has purchased a pair of 18-hole golf courses in Monticello, Minnesota. Sauer told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal that he and his partners paid less than the $2.3 million asking price for Riverwood National Golf Course, which features a regulation-length track and an executive-length track. The courses will be marketed in tandem with Cedar Creek Golf Course in nearby Albertville, a property the group has owned since 2006. “We saw it as a perfect opportunity to give golfers a new experience,” Sauer explained. “Sometimes people get tired of buying a membership and being locked into that one course, so this gives people a membership opportunity for three courses.” Riverwood National had been controlled by a local bank. Its courses were designed by David Kirscht, an architect based in Hopkins, Minnesota.

     A self-described “atrocious golfer” has purchased a Rowland Armacost-designed golf course in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mike Deep, a developer and insurance agent, paid an undisclosed price for Waubeeka Golf Links, an 18-hole layout that opened in 1966. “I didn’t want to see Waubeeka not be a golf course,” he told the Berkshire Eagle. “You just can’t put houses there. It wouldn’t be proper. It’s just too beautiful.” Deep bought the 190-acre property from James Goff and his wife, Jody, who paid $4.2 million for it in 2008. The Goffs invested in what’s been described as “major renovations,” including a redesign of the back nine. They put Waubeeka on the market in 2012, hoping to get $5 million, but last year they dropped their price to $3.5 million.

     City officials in Austin, Texas plan to add a sixth 18-hole course to their municipal operation. They’ve agreed to pay $8.5 million for Grey Rock Golf Club, whose 22-year-old course -- the city’s first high-end, daily-fee track -- was designed by Jay Morrish. Before too long, Grey Rock will serve as a replacement for the city’s Lions Municipal Golf Course, which is located on land owned by the University of Texas and is slated for commercial development. The city has also allocated $1.1 million for improvements to Grey Rock, which is located at Circle C Ranch and was originally known as Golf Club at Circle C. The seller was Wally Deroeck.

     The Links at Sunset Ridge, an 18-hole course in Marcellus, New York, has a new name and a new owner. Mark and Karen Clark have sold the 16-year-old, John Yuhas-designed track to D. J. Van Keuren, who grew up in Marcellus but now lives in Denver, Colorado. Van Keuren plans to improve the course and build some houses around it. “Our goal is to be the best golf course in central New York within the next five years,” he said in a press release. A sales price hasn’t been announced, but the Syracuse Post-Standard reports that the 154-acre property is currently assessed at $1.5 million.

     Spe Go Holdings, an affiliate of Textron Financial Corporation, has disposed of another repossessed golf property. Spe Go has sold Ivy Hills Country Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a group led by Doug Evans. For a price in excess of $550,000, Evans’ LLC acquired a Steve Smyers-designed track that the Cincinnati Business Courier describes as “one of the toughest private golf courses” in the area. In recent years, Spe Go has also sold golf properties in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and other states.

     Late last year, a group of residential developers in suburban Sioux Falls, South Dakota purchased a golf course near its Spruce Glen community. The developers, operating as Spruce Glen, Inc., bought Rocky Run Golf Course, an 18-hole track that opened in 1940, for an undisclosed price. In a press release, they claimed to be “committed to maintaining this valuable community asset.” In recent years, the city of Dell Rapids has had at least two opportunities to purchase the course but passed on both occasions.

     After submitting a purchase offer that club members declined to match, Cimarron Golf Partners LLC has closed on its purchase of Dalton Ranch Golf Club. The Durango Herald reports that the semiprivate club, in Durango, Colorado, changed hands for $3.4 million. The club’s centerpiece is an 18-hole, Ken Dye-designed golf course that opened in 1991. Steve Irwin, the son of Hale Irwin, is reportedly one of the new owners.

     Robert McNeil, a golf architect for more than 20 years, has become a golf-course owner. The president of The Northeast Golf Company has purchased Woodland Greens Golf Club, which features a Geoffrey Cornish-designed track that opened in 1964. “This is a childhood dream of mine,” McNeil told the Standard Times. “I have been looking for a golf property for years.” The nine-hole layout is in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, just a short drive from McNeil’s office in Saunderstown.