Transactions, march 27, 2015

     Naples, Florida. Ever in search of recreational amenities that can help it sell houses, Pulte Homes has acquired Golf Club of the Everglades, a property that features an 18-hole, Rees Jones-designed golf course. “The natural beauty of this site and its ideal location cannot be replicated,” a company official said in a press release. “We truly believe the setting is one of the best Naples has to offer.” In an effort “to further enhance the course and the new community” that will emerge next to it, Pulte has hired Jones’ firm to redesign four of the course’s holes.

     Southern Pines, North Carolina. The U.S. Kids Golf Foundation, which has been hosting world championships for children and teenagers for a decade, has agreed to buy a golf property of its own. Sometime next month, the Georgia-based foundation expects to close on Longleaf Golf & Country Club, a venue that features an 18-hole, Dan Maples-designed golf course. The sales price hasn’t been announced, but Dan Van Horn, the foundation’s founder, told a local newspaper that it’ll be “an all-cash deal.” Robert Erickson, the principal of Longleaf’s current ownership group, told the newspaper that the property has an assessed value of $4.7 million.

     Middletown, Maryland. Victor Liu has purchased Hollow Creek Golf Club, in the hope of making it “a place for children to have the opportunity to play golf.” Liu, a Maryland resident, reportedly paid $2.15 million for the 174-acre club, which features an 18-hole, Rick Jacobson-designed golf course and a 16,000-square-foot clubhouse. According to the Frederick News-Post, Hollow Creek was originally built, in 2002, for $12 million. Liu plans to operate the property as Hollow Creek International Golf Academy. He told the newspaper that he owns a golf course outside Shanghai, China and has invested in golf properties in Florida and South Carolina, and that his family owns the Links at Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

     Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii. The Hawaiian affiliate of Pacific Links International has agreed to sell one of its five golf properties on Oahu. Any day now, an unidentified Japanese firm is expected to close on Kapolei Golf Club, whose featured attraction is an 18-hole, Ted Robinson-design golf course. Pacific Business News believes that the 20-year-old track, which hosted an LPGA event for six consecutive years beginning in 1996, is “one of the toughest courses on Oahu.” Pacific Links Hawaii, which bought Kapolei from a Japanese group in 2010, didn’t offer a reason for the sale. It still owns Royal Hawaiian Golf Club, Olomana Golf Links, Makaha Golf Club, and Makaha Valley Country Club, along with other golf properties on the U.S. mainland and in China.

     Piqua, Ohio. The bankrupt Piqua Country Club, which was put on Desolation Row in the waning days of 2014, has been rescued by a group of its former members. “This is a big win for the future of the club,” one of the new owners told the Dayton Business Journal. The club, which was established in 1896, plans to reopen next month, under the management of Honours Golf, a division of Troon Golf.

     Cloudcroft, New Mexico. A couple from Texas has purchased one of New Mexico’s hospitality landmarks, including one of the state’s (and our nation’s) oldest golf courses. Joe and Lanna Duncan paid an undisclosed amount for the Lodge at Cloudcroft, a historic resort that includes a 59-room hotel, a spa, a restaurant, and a nine-hole golf course that opened in 1899. “We love historic preservation,” Joe Duncan told the Alamogordo Daily News. The Duncans own a pair of hotels in Texas, in Marfa and Van Horn. They bought the Lodge from Great Inns of the Rockies, which had tried unsuccessfully to sell the property at auction last year.

     McKinney, Texas. A faceless group operating as WRidge Golf LLC has taken possession of WestRidge Golf Club, the featured attraction at city’s largest planned community. The 18-hole, Jeff Brauer-designed track has been described as “a very playable course for golfers of all skill levels” and “one of the hidden golf gems in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.” It hosts more than 44,000 rounds a year, according to a broker involved in the transaction. WRidge Golf bought the club from Stonebridge Westerra, L.P.

     East Falmouth, Massachusetts. In what appears to be a bank-ordered sale, a group led by David Spiegel has purchased Ballymeade Country Club, reportedly for $6.3 million. Ballymeade’s 18-hole, daily-fee golf course was co-designed by Jim Fazio and Chi Chi Rodriguez and opened in 1989. Spiegel plans to operate it as the Cape Club. The seller, a group led by Martin Shaevel, owns Golf Club of Cape Cod, which is located on adjacent property.

     Cushing, Oklahoma. Just after the first of the year, the members of Cushing Country Club voted almost unanimously to sell their property to David Hough, the owner of a tool-rental company and an RV park. The club, which opened in 1921, features a Perry Maxwell-designed, 18-hole golf course. KUSH, a local radio station, believes that “a thorough remodel of the property may be upcoming.”

     Columbia, South Carolina. In the final days of 2014, Empire Sports Management bought a 25-year-old, P. B. Dye-designed golf course that was, according to The State, about to “drown in a sea of red ink.” The track, the centerpiece of Northwoods Golf Club, rang up just 16,000 rounds last year, down from 34,000 in the mid 1990s, and the newspaper says it was “on the brink of extinction.” The club had been in the family of the sellers, Bobby and Doyle McBride, for 25 years. Empire, an entity controlled by Joe Rice, also owns Bulls Bay Golf Club in suburban Charleston, a facility that features an 18-hole layout designed by Mike Strantz. The firm believes that Northwoods can attract 20,000 rounds this year and 25,000 in 2016.

     Warsaw, Kentucky. In January, David Morris and his two sons paid $750,000 for the 18-hole Sugar Bay Golf Course. Their goal, one of the sons told the Carrollton News-Democrat, is to create “a friendlier atmosphere that will make the time our customers spend with us more fun and rewarding.” Sugar Bay is said to be “a short, tight, par-71 golf course with plenty of water hazards and trees to challenge all golfers at any skill level.” Since the course opened, in the late 1980s, it’s had five owners. The Morrises bought it from Doug and Nancy Jefferies, who’d reportedly owned it since 2003.

     Bristol, Connecticut. A Chevy dealer has acquired the financially troubled Chippanee Golf Club, promising to make it “a great club once again.” Fritz Blasius bought the 92-year-old venue, which went belly up late last year, from its members, who’d declined to invest in its future. Chippanee, which has been called “a gathering place for the community’s business elite,” is expected to reopen next month, with membership plans that will be, according to Blasius, “substantially less than previous regular dues scenarios. The Bristol Press has blamed the club’s struggles on “an aging membership and a decline in interest in golfing.”