Transactions, september 26, 2014

     One of California’s most popular four-season resorts has contracted to buy a pair of its smaller competitors, one of which has a golf course. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, a 3,500-acre spread outside Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, has reportedly offered $38 million for the family-focused Big Bear Mountain and Snow Summit resorts located near Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. The Big Bear Mountain property includes a nine-hole golf course that’s been around since 1948. Mammoth Mountain, a vacation spot majority owned by Starwood Capital Corporation, has a course of its own -- the state’s highest layout, in fact -- to lure summertime visitors. The resort’s Sierra Star Golf Course, an 18-hole, Cal Olson-designed track, opened in 1999.

     An investment group based in Denver, Colorado has acquired a Dick Nugent-designed golf course and other property on Hawaii’s Big Island. Resource Land Holdings reportedly purchased 900 acres, a tract that includes Makalei Golf Club, from Gramercy Capital Corporation, which had foreclosed on the property in 2008. The sales price wasn’t been announced, but Gramercy put Makalei on the market last year for $14 million. The club, which opened in 1992, describes itself as “breathtakingly beautiful,” with “one of the most unique golf courses in the world.” It was created by a Japanese firm owned by the brother of Tommy Nakajima, a well-known Japanese professional golfer, and over the years it’s had several owners. It’s been operated in recent years by Touchstone Golf, which RLH plans to retain.

     A nearly 90-year-old private club in Chicagoland has been spared from the threat of development. Itasca Country Club, a facility established in 1925, has been sold to a group of local investors who’ve pledged to maintain its history and traditions. “We see this acquisition as a new beginning for the club,” one of the new owners said. “We plan to innovate and make Itasca Country Club a destination for exceptional golf, dining, community gatherings, and events.” The club, formerly owned by its members, features a James Foulis-designed golf course.

     After seeing play erode for more than a decade, a golf complex in Memphis, Tennessee is seeking to grow by acquisition. Windyke Country Club, a 54-hole facility within city limits, has acquired Plantation Golf Course, an 18-hole venue in nearby Olive Branch, Mississippi. “If we’re going to stay in this industry long term,” one of the new owners told the Memphis Business Journal, “we need to expand our operations.” According to the Journal, the number of rounds played at Windyke has fallen by roughly one-third since the turn of the century. By buying Plantation, the club believes it can generate new revenues without significantly adding to its expenses.

     Harder Hall Golf Club, built in the early 1950s as an amenity for a grand, resort-style hotel in Sebring, Florida, has a new owner. It’s become part of a small golf portfolio that belongs to Jason Laman, who paid an undisclosed price for Harder Hall and its 18-hole, Dick Wilson-designed golf course. “I think it’s going to work out to where we can run it at a low cost,” he told Highlands Today. Laman owns another course in Sebring, Golf Hammock Golf & Country Club, as well as Bluffs Golf Course in nearby Zolfo Springs. The Harder Hall hotel, once a destination for snowbirds from northern climes, has been abandoned since the 1980s.

     In Lumberton, North Carolina, the golf pro at Cliffwood Golf Course thinks it’s a good time to become a golf-course owner. Mike Hendren and his father, who’ve been managing golf properties for more than two decades, have purchased Cliffwood, which features an 18-hole, 23-year-old golf course. “It a great little course,” Hendren told the Fayetteville Observer. “It’s been overlooked for years.” The 18-hole track was designed by Clifford Bullard, whose heirs were the sellers. The Hendrens have given Cliffwood a new name: Carolina Plantation Golf Club.

     Draper Valley Golf Club, a 22-year-old venue outside Roanoke, Virginia, has been purchased by a group that includes two of its former employees. One of the former employees told the Southwest Times that the club was available because some of its owners had passed away and the survivors “felt they needed to get out of the golf business and take it easy.” The club, which was established in 1992, says its golf course was “designed by Mother Nature.” Other sources say it was Harold Louden.

     According to a press release lacking important details, an unnamed entity has acquired a private club in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. The property in question is Columbia Hills Country Club, which appears to share an address with Columbia Hills Golf & Swim Club. The golf and swim club opened in the late 1920s and features a course designed by Harold Paddock. The press release doesn’t disclose the price paid for the property, but the club was on the market for $1.85 million. The new owner apparently wishes to keep both the club and his identity private.