Transactions, june 19, 2015

     Scottsdale, Arizona. A monument to the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1980s has changed hands. Starwood Hotels & Resorts has sold the Phoenician, which features a 27-hole golf complex, to Host Hotels & Resorts, reportedly for $400 million. In addition to the golf complex, the 300-acre resort has a 643-room hotel, meeting space, nine bars and restaurants, the obligatory spa, and other attractions. The Phoenician was built by the late Charles Keating, a developer who became wealthy by capitalizing on opportunities offered by a deregulated S&L industry. (His motto: “The weak, meek, and ignorant are always good targets.”) Keating’s Lincoln Savings & Loan collapsed spectacularly in 1989, and a government rescue officially cost U.S. taxpayers $3.4 billion, though the true cost was probably much more. The Phoenician, which was known as “Club Fed” after the government seized Keating’s assets, has golf courses designed by Homer Flint (the Oasis and Desert nines) and Ted Robinson (the Canyon nine).

     Sherrard, Illinois. Earlier this month, at a public auction, a pair of businessmen from the Quad Cities reportedly paid $502,765 and change -- literally, 91 cents -- for Fyre Lake Golf Course, a golf property whose tortured history is reflected in the price. Mike Thoms and Larry Whitty bought the Nicklaus Design layout from Todd Raufeisen, who once likened his property to a “train wreck.” Fyre Lake opened in 2013, but it’s been making life miserable for its various owners and lenders since 1992, and Raufeisen wasn’t sorry to see it go. “For the first time,” he told the Quad City Times, “all the crap will be done.” Given what Whitty calls the “prior negative publicity,” the new owners are thinking about changing the course’s name. Probably not a bad idea.

     Lake Elsinore, California. Less than two years after a shady Chinese entity agreed to pay $1.65 million for Links at Summerly, some Los Angeles-based investors are expected to purchase the seven-year-old course for just $750,000. The Chinese entity, which operated either as Kingdom Capital Market or World Capital Market, had acquired Summerly in October 2013. Several months later, however, prosecutors accused it of running an investment scam, and control of the 18-hole, Cal Olson-designed layout went to a court-appointed receiver. The receiver couldn’t operate the track profitably, nor could it find a buyer willing to beat Saint Springs LLC’s low-ball bid.

     Fayetteville, Arkansas. One of the U.S. golf industry’s biggest owner/operators has acquired the city’s oldest golf course, with the aim of putting the nearly 60-year-old track out of business. Lindsey Management Company has agreed to buy Razorback Park Golf Course, an 18-hole layout that opened in two phases, in 1958 and 1992. Lindsey has more than 40 affordably priced golf properties in its portfolio, three of them in Fayetteville, but it believes that Razorback Park’s 125 acres are better suited to single-family houses, apartments, and footgolf. The sellers, Ron and Linda Caviness, have owned Razorback Park since 1985.

     Weirton, West Virginia. Between mid April and mid May, one of the top golf venues in West Virginia changed hands twice. First, the members of Williams Country Club, which was created by Weirton Steel Company in the 1930s, sold their 175-acre property at a public auction to Gary Smith, who bid $1.775 million. Then, a month later, Smith sold the club to one of its longtime members, James Markowitz, for $900,000. Why the price difference? Smith has retained the mineral rights to the property. Markowitz intends to continue operating Williams as a private club. Golf Digest ranks the property’s 18-hole golf course, which was co-designed by Emil Loeffler and John McGlynn, as the eighth best in the state.  

     Venice, Florida. A New York City-based investment fund has purchased Pelican Pointe Golf & Country Club, the main attraction of a 1,000-acre community that describes itself as “truly a place where life feels different.” Lex Pelican LP, an entity controlled by E. Robert Roskind, reportedly paid $16.85 million for the 360-acre club, a fixture in suburban Sarasota since the mid 1990s. Pelican Pointe’s main attraction is a 27-hole golf complex that was designed by Ted McAnliss. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the seller, Cabot Golf, paid $13 million for the property in 2007, just prior to the economic crash.

     Kingman, Kansas. Here’s a twist: A developer has rescued a financially troubled golf course. At an auction in April, Shaun Weaver agreed to pay $345,000 plus closing costs for Kingman County Club, which features a nine-hole course that opened in 1923. “It just seems like a community needs a golf course,” Weaver told the Hutchinson News. Kingman was shuttered last year and donated to the Kansas Masonic Foundation, which put it up for auction. According to the Kingman County appraiser, the club’s property is worth more than $626,000.

     Naco, Arizona. In what the Sierra Vista Herald suggests is “the steal of the century,” an investment group led by Harold Vaubel, a former golf course superintendent, has acquired the oldest golf course in Arizona. At a public auction, Vaubel’s HGM Golf Enterprises paid $600,000 for Turquoise Valley Golf Course, which has reportedly been in business since 1908, four years before Arizona became a state. “In Arizona,” Vaubel told the Herald, “golf courses can be purchased for about 50 cents on the dollar.” HGM bought Turquoise Valley from Pete Lawson, a Canadian who, according to the newspaper, “had reached his own personal timetable on how long he wanted to own the course.” The new owners are in the market for other golf properties, and Redhawk Golf Course, in Temecula, California, is on their radar.

      Grants Pass, Oregon. For what’s been described as “totally sentimental” reasons, a co-founder of Dutch Bros. Coffee has purchased Dutcher Creek Golf Course. Travis Boersma paid an undisclosed price for the 18-hole track, which is located on a former dairy farm that his family used to own, late last year or in early 2015. Boersma grew up working on the farm, and he learned to make coffee there. His father built the golf course, which opened with nine holes in 1994.

     Harrisburg, South Dakota. The clock has begun to tick on Spring Creek Country Club. The roughly two dozen owners of Spring Creek have sold their 200-acre property to the South Dakota Parks & Wildlife Foundation, reportedly for $2 million. The foundation, which feared that Spring Creek would be developed, has agreed to lease the club to its former owners for the next 10 years, and then it’ll donate the site to the adjacent Good Earth State Park. Spring Creek features an 18-hole, Marty Johnson-designed golf course that opened in 1994.

     Las Vegas, Nevada. Cyrus Tang and a few of his wealthy neighbors have taken possession of Spanish Trail Country Club. The club, which features a 27-hole, Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf complex, was established in the mid 1980s and served as the centerpiece of a 640-acre community where both Las Vegas royalty (Andre Agassi, Siegfried Fischbacher of Siegfried & Roy) and true royalty (the sultan of Brunei) had homes. The community didn’t fare well during the Great Recession, however, and it was forced to seek bankruptcy protection in 2011. It really hasn’t been the same since. Tang, who was born in China, attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and made a fortune by selling, among other things, office furniture and scrap metal. He and his partners bought Spanish Trail from PPM America, a Chicago, Illinois-based investment management firm. The price hasn’t been disclosed.