The Week That Was, september 22, 2019

     For the second time in a year, Blackstone Group has lightened its golf portfolio. For a price reported to be $602 million, the giant New York City-based investment company has sold the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, a 396-acre property in Phoenix, Arizona. The resort features, among other things, a 950-room hotel, meeting space, what’s been described as “the largest ballroom in the state,” and a pair of 18-hole golf courses, one designed by Arnold Palmer (with assistance from Ed Seay) and the other by Nick Faldo (with assistance from Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley). The new owner of Desert Ridge is a collection of investment funds managed by two familiar groups, Trinity Real Estate Investments and Elliott Management Corporation. The parties are well-known to each other, as late last year Blackstone sold Grande Lakes Orlando Resort, a 409-acre spread in Florida, to Trinity and Elliott. Blackstone has been selling golf properties in recent years, but as best I can determine it still owns Turtle Bay Resort, a 1,300-acre vacation spot on O’ahu that features two 18-hole courses. In addition, just last month one of the company’s investment vehicles agreed to make an investment in Concert Golf Properties.

     Surplus Transactions – Promising to be “passive investors,” a group led by Ken Jamison has purchased Crow Creek Golf Club, a 19-year-old venue in Calabash, North Carolina. The club, which features a Rick Robbins-designed golf course, was sold by the family of Jimmy McLamb, a well-known figure in the area’s golf business. Last year, Jamison sold Larkhaven Golf Club, a late-1950s venue in Charlotte, North Carolina, to a home builder. . . . Hickory Ridge Golf Club and its 18-hole course, Geoffrey Cornish/Bill Robinson-designed golf course, may not be turned into a solar farm after all. The town manager in Amherst, Massachusetts has reportedly offered $520,000 for 50-year-old club, a price that a city official believes makes the purchase a “a once in a lifetime opportunity.” . . . John Date has accepted $3.12 million for Newaukum Valley Golf Course, an 18-hole track in greater Olympia, Washington that he co-designed in the late 1970s. The new owners, Joseph Enbody and Trevor Westlund, are likely to sell nine of Date’s holes to a home builder.

     Duly Noted – Vietnam has added to its golf population. The socialist republic counted 70,000 golfers in 2018, up from 10,000 in 2009, and the Vietnam Professional Golf Association estimates that the number will increase to 100,000 next year. . . While acknowledging that demand for houses in golf communities has weakened, the president of Sotheby’s International Realty told the New York Times that the business is bouncing back. His hot markets include Miami, Palm Beach, Spain, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Greece, South Africa, and Mallorca. . . . Regatta Bay Golf & Yacht Club, the centerpiece of a gated community in Destin, Florida, may soon resume operating as a private club. The club, which has been a semiprivate facility in recent years, believes the market for private clubs is improving. “We’ve seen the market change again, to where most clubs are going back to taking initiation fees,” a club official told the Destin Log. It’s way too early to call this a trend, but some private clubs are evidently seeing the light at the end of a long, dark economic tunnel.

     Are you wondering how much of a week’s golf news I cover in this blog? The answer, unfortunately, is just a fraction of what passes my way. The golf business, particularly the development side of the golf business, has unquestionably perked up over the past year or two, and there’s no way for me to address all of it. So if your business requires a more comprehensive news digest – a weekly compendium of stories collected from newspapers, magazines, and other sources – contact me via e-mail at golfcoursereport@aol.com. I’ll send you a sample issue of either U.S. or International Construction Clips, depending on your needs.