The Pellucid Perspective - December 2010 - (Page 5)

COURSE SALES Course sales pace showing signs of increasing Bank sales not the only reason for acceleration By Jim Dunlap G olf industry pundits keep anticipating the tipping point tion, Aurora Bank, an affiliate of Lehman Brothers, sold the golf that most of them are expecting soon in the golf course club to Chris Bright, a developer and marketing company exsales market. As foreclosures transfer more courses into ecutive whose family developed the golf course community surbank REO portfolios and course values continue to slip, many rounding the course. Bright as the property landlord had earlier observers expect individual or institutional investors to come refused to approve other sales, after defaults on long term leases off the sidelines and enter, or re-enter, the course ownership by Heritage Golf Group and Century Golf Partners. The bank game. There are some indications that the time is growing closer then sold Bright the golf facility for $500,000. rapidly. CBRE’s fourth sale during the fall was a much more tradiAlthough lender sales of distressed assets ranging from the tional model. Blackhawk Golf Club in Pflugerville, Texas, sold $200-plus million dollar Sea Island Company to mom & pop for $1.25 million in November to Mike Ussery, CEO of Texascourses throughout the country are garnering the most attention, based golf course owner/operator OnCourse Strategies. All of there are other types of transactions beginning to close. Four sales OnCourse Strategies’ eight courses are located in Texas. brokered in the last four months by Carlsbad, Calif.-based CB Three other current CBRE listings are also land-plus-golf Richard Ellis are representative of the diverse properties. The three are Black Bull in Monrange of buyers and sellers beginning to pull tana, Winchester Country Club in northern One ploy which the trigger these days. California near Auburn, and Tennessee Naseems to be picking tional in the Knoxville, Tenn. area. The headliner among those four sales, although the one perhaps least likely to establish The late-October announcement that up steam is the sale a trend, was the purchase of the Bay Course at Canadian course ownership group Clubfamed Kapalua Resort on Maui. Tadashi Ya- of golf course proper- Link had purchased yet another stateside nai, one of Japan’s wealthiest individuals, purties which still have course in Florida further fueled speculation chased the course for $24 million from mega that for some large investors, at least, golf developer Maui Land & Pineapple. It’s not as undeveloped land to represents a viable growth opportunity. In if Yanai doesn’t know what he’s getting into October, ClubLink purchased Heron Bay sweeten the pot. – he also owns Kapalua’s Plantation Course, Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla. for aphome of the PGA Tour’s Hyundai Tournaproximately $3 million from HB Partners I, ment of Champions in January. LLC. Several months earlier, ClubLink had One ploy which seems to be picking up steam is the sale of golf purchased the WCI Communities portfolio of eight Tampa course properties which still have undeveloped land to sweeten region courses for around $8.7 million. ClubLink is Canada’s the pot. Developers who can no longer pay their lenders for land largest golf course owner/operator, with nearly 50 18-hole that they are reluctant to build on for fear the homes won’t sell equivalents. are willing to take less than they had hoped, in order to get out In another more traditional transaction, the developer sold of the raw land debt service. The CB Richard Ellis-brokered sale Grandezza Country Club in Estero, Fla. for $7 million in Octoin November of 7,000 acres in the Festival Ranch development ber. Stock Development, which had completed community sales, northwest of Phoenix to the Ni family of Phoenix for $41 million sold the golf property to family members Ben, Brian and Dick is one example. In that case, the Ni family bought the remain- Klaas, who also have an interest in the Arrowhead Country Club ing 7,000 of the 10,000 acres originally purchased by troubled in Naples, Fla. developer Lyle Anderson, including the existing Copper Canyon Another well-known course and professional Tour stop, PleasGolf Club. The Ni family will also receive a 2.25 percent royalty ant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Mass., also sold recently at on homes sold by Pulte within the development. Several more auction, although at significantly less than the Sea Island and golf courses are in the current master plan for the community, but Kapalua properties. John Magill purchased the Pleasant Valley there is no timetable or assurance regarding their construction. property in mid-November for $5 million, pending official close The Golf Club at Castle Hills in Lewisville, Texas, was a to- within 45 days. Magill, a homebuilder, also owns Highfields tally different, but not unique, scenario. In that October transac- Golf and Country Club in Grafton, Mass. n The Pellucid PersPecTive www.PellucidcorP.com 5 http://WWW.PELLUCIDCORP.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - December 2010

The Pellucid Perspective - December 2010
Contents
3rd Party Tee Time Marketers: According to Some, “missed It by That Much”
Course Sales Pace Showing Signs of Increasing
Nov YtD Weather Impact Oct YtD Utilization
The Lonely Golfer Phenomenon
A Formula That Fits
Meadowbrook Golf on the Way Back?
Raffles a Risky Gamble
Denver, CO DMA
Dear Golf Industry Santa

The Pellucid Perspective - December 2010