Transactions, may 16, 2014

     In an attempt to shore up its weakened bottom line, Caesars Entertainment has sold one of its highest-profile golf assets: Atlantic City Country Club, a 117-year-old property in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The financially squeezed gaming colossus sold the club and its John Reid-designed, 18-hole golf course to Ottinger Family Group, an entity led by Chip Ottinger, Jr. Ottinger owns two other golf properties in the vicinity, Ballamor Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township and Scotland Run Golf Club in Williamstown. Caesars, which has owned the Atlantic City club since 1997, still owns at least five other U.S. golf properties, including Cascata Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada; Cottonwoods Golf Course in Tunica, Mississippi; and Chariot Run Golf Course in Laconia, Indiana. Last year, the company sold its golf course on Macau to Asian investors.

     A Chinese investor has acquired a 120-year-old, golf-focused resort on Wellesley Island in New York. Ximin Shi reportedly paid $5.2 million for Thousand Islands Country Club, a 976-acre spread that includes 20 villas, a marina, and a pair of 18-hole golf courses, one of which (the Old course) is credited to Seth Raynor. Wellesley Island is located in the St. Lawrence River, along the Canadian border, and a century ago it was a favored vacation spot for New York’s upper crust. The resort was established by George Boldt, a hotelier who popularized Thousand Island salad dressing while working as the general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Shi owns two other golf properties in upstate New York: Pioneer Hills Golf Club in Ballston Spa and Greenview Country Club in suburban Syracuse. He bought Thousand Islands from heirs of the late Thomas H. Schwalm, the fellow who co-founded the company that created SoBe beverages.

     A Vancouver-based Chinese investor has purchased his first golf property, an 18-hole track in Sechelt, British Columbia. In a transaction that closed in March, Owen Wang paid an undisclosed price for Sechelt Golf & Country Club, which was designed and built by Olson Beatty & Hnatiuk and opened in the early 1990s. “I love to play golf,” Wang told the Sechelt Coast Reporter. “I’ve played on over 500 courses around the world.” The club is located on property owned by the District of Sechelt. Wang has hired Wayne Carlton, a golf architect allied with Graham Cooke’s firm, to oversee a renovation of the course and its clubhouse. He also plans to build a 150-room hotel and a spa on the property.

     A golf complex featuring one of the most talked-about holes in America has a new owner. Meadows Farms Golf Course, a 27-hole facility in suburban Fredericksburg, Virginia, now belongs to an LLC led by Kenny Dotson, a local builder and developer. Meadows Farms’ claim to fame is the third hole on its Longest Hole Nine, an 841-yard behemoth that’s said to be the longest in the nation. Dotson’s LLC bought the 265-acre property from Meadows Farms, Inc., which owns and operates a group of garden-center stores in the Washington, DC area. Meadows Farms’ founder, Bill Meadows, co-designed the 21-year-old course with Bill Ward, Jr. A sales price hasn’t been announced. The new owners have hired Billy Casper Golf to manage the course.

     For the time being, at least, the year-long soap opera surrounding the sale of Chamisa Hills Country Club has mercifully ended. After making sales pitches to several prospective buyers who came and went, Harry Apodaca has found buyers for his 27-hole golf complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Jhett Browne and Bob Gallagher, the owners of a local grocery-store chain. Browne and Gallagher paid “around $1 million,” the Albuquerque Journal says, for what they now call the Club at Rio Rancho. A vital issue remains unresolved, however: A pending price increase for water that would, if imposed, prevent the club from ever operating profitably. The new owners hope to negotiate more favorable rates. If they can’t, the soap opera will resume.

     A married couple from St. Petersburg, Florida has taken possession of Feather Sound Country Club, which features a golf course that was co-designed by Joe Lee and Bob Cupp. Dale F. Schmidt, an insurance man, and his wife, Cheryl Haigley, reportedly paid $5.15 million for the 36-year-old property. The seller was an entity controlled by investors associated with Fore Golf, which has been retained as the club’s operator. The new owners expect to make what’s been described as “significant enhancements” to Feather Sound. “They’re serious about bringing the club back to its former prominence,” a spokesperson told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The sale was facilitated by Marcus & Millichap’s National Golf and Resort Properties Group, which is also trying to sell a course in Maryland for Fore Golf.

     Fulfilling a long-time dream, a pair of golf pros from Pennsylvania has purchased a shuttered 18-hole golf course in Elkton, Maryland. Wes Hollis and Hugo Mazzalupi paid an undisclosed price for Patriots Glen Golf Club, a 13-year-old facility that had been foreclosed upon by its lender. “We’ve been looking to buy a golf course for 10 to 15 years, probably,” Hollis told the Cecil Whig. The property, now known as Patriots Glen National Golf Club, has been closed since the spring of 2013. The new owners hope to reopen it on the Fourth of July.

     New ownership is breathing new life into a five-hole course in Fresno, California. Jim Perez and Kevin Cameron have given Islewood Golf Course a new name, Bluff Pointe Golf Course & Learning Center, and they plan to transform its rudimentary layout into a nine-hole, executive-length track. “I always thought this needed to be a nine-hole course,” Perez told the Fresno Bee. “Pretty much everyone plays either nine holes or 18 holes, not five.” One thing won’t change, however: Bluff Pointe will remain an affordably priced facility for juniors, seniors, and beginners.

     Dave and Beth Schroer have sold their nine-hole, par-3 golf course in Homer, Alaska to a couple from Anchorage. Dave Schroer designed and built Shoreline Golf Course himself, after he retired from teaching in the early 1980s. In a letter to the Homer News, he said his goal had been “to bring affordable recreation” to his small community. The reason for the sale, he wrote, “is that at almost age 86 I have run out of gas.” Shoreline, which has been in business since 1986, was purchased by Scott and Esa Woodland.