The Pellucid Perspective - September 2024 - 12

COMINGS
& GOINGS
Transactions, Opens, Closes All Represented This Month
A
ugust activity showed (a little) more breadth with an opening
and closing joining our regular routine of transactions
in this usually slow month for activity. This month's 9
activities bring our annual tally (standard disclaimer is that we
don't have complete knowledge or perfect visibility) to 76 or
roughly 10 per month. Here's the month's scorecard:
* Opens/Re-opens - 1 (an increasing number of " coming
soon " announcements though)
* Closeds - 1
* Transactions (continuing golf operations including For
Sales & Auctions) - 7
* Redevelopments (transactions not continuing as golf
operations) - 0
* Other (name change, Priv-Pub switch, downsize holes,
Priv->Muni ownership etc.) - 0
The table provides details and commentary for each activity.
For those not into detail (or our entertaining commentary), the
slight trend we see this month and previously this year is activity
is happening more at the upper end of the price spectrum as
well as including an increasing incidence of Private clubs transacting
or being built (Lookout Mountain Club adding another
18 holes in this month's tally for example). We're not seeing
any singular markets with unusually high activity but Florida
as a state in general stands out slightly for activity level. Sizewise,
current transactions appear to favor the major and mid-size
metro markets but, with Pellucid's recently compiled and published
Market Strength ranking of all 207 Core Business Statistical
Areas (CBSAs), we know that there are 3rd and 4th-tier
markets (by size) out there that have favorable profiles for golf
and would be good investment values if properties come on the
market (Salt Lake City, UT being one which is profiled in this
month's Market Focus).
There were a number of " general interest " stories this month,
primarily coming from Club & Resort Business' daily emails
(recommended reading, more information here) augmented by
other client conversations and business publications. Our purpose
here is to compile, organize and distill these events into
one convenient place along with our insights and interpretations.
Here's a quick bullet list of trends and announcements:
* The FL Dept of Environmental Protection had floated
a proposal for potentially 2 golf courses on the FL
eastern seaboard north of Palm Beach which is running
into a firestorm of criticism by local environmental
Golf's landscape changes
Event
Course
The Lookout
Mountain Club
Open/Re-open
DMA
groups opposed to golf development in general. Shades
of Sharp Park in San Francisco except this time the
environmental groups are going for the pre-emptive
strike vs. trying to get an existing, long-tenured course
shuttered
* Midland County TX has designs to potentially
build multiple courses based on a recent feasibility
study which we think is a bit optimistic based on our
knowledge of the market and demographics using our
Golf Local Market Analyzer software. That said, they
lost an 18-hole course a few years ago so one could
consider them " one down " to start
* Pellucid's home state of IL (Oswego to be specific) is
proposing what may be the first 9 hole (short) indoor
(domed) course in the US. This would join another
indoor golf facility on the west side of town built in
the last 5 years. The plan would be to house the 9 hole
course in 4 domes and would put Oswego on the map
for " most indoor full golf experiences in the US " (ha, ha)
* Another semi-new golf format called 3's, backed by
8AM Golf and Justin Timberlake, is underway to open
a 2nd location, this one in Charlotte NC (the original is
in Greenville SC). Somewhere between miniature golf
and glowball golf, the concept is repurposing existing
Learning & Practice facilities with lighting for night
play, entertainment and a social setting to gather and
eat, drink and be merry. This concept has been tried
previously on a limited basis and not succeeded but
that was pre-Topgolf and during a much softer industry
trends period (and they didn't have Justin Timberlake
so they've got that going for them)
The closing story is one that's played out over more than 15
yrs involving the Moundbuilders Country Club in Newark, OH
which appears en route to finally being " laid to rest " . The club
members have finally reached an amenable settlement to both
parties to return the land, which has been during their ownership
designated a World Heritage Tribal Site, to the Ohio History
Connection for an undisclosed price. The full story is covered
here by C&RB. Seems like the right answer for both parties
was somewhere between $2-$22M and kudos to the membership
in making the concession and bearing the inconvenience to
relocate the club in consideration of the historical importance
of the site.
Type/Holes Summary
Chattanooga TN PRIV/18
New 18-hole addition " soft opening " for McLemore
resort destination (adding to The Highlands
Course (18) and The Cairn (L&P); whole theme
of living/playing " above the clouds " on Lookout
Mtn GA. Walking rounds only by reservation until
full opening in early '25. Bill Bergen/Rees Jones
design, Scenic Land Co. as developer
12 The Pellucid PersPecTive
September 2024
The Pellucid Perspective - September 2024

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