Deeds and Weeds

Results for July 2009 Back to Deeds and Weeds Index

Superstition Mountain Sale Scheduled

Friday, July 31, 2009 Comments
superstitionmountain.jpgThe Phoenix area's Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club is scheduled to be sold Aug. 11, the East Valley Tribune reports. It appears the likely buyer will be John Deere Credit, an affiliate of the tractor company, which is owed some $26 million by the club.

The club, site of the LGPA Tour's Safeway event for five years, has a pair of courses. It has been under John Deere Credit's control since late last year.

-- P.F.


Posted by Peter Finch
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The Inescapable Story

Friday, July 31, 2009 Comments
Jackson doctor home.jpgI know, I know: This is the place you come to escape coverage about the death of a certain pop star. But I couldn't resist:

Did you see that the doctor being investigated in that singer's death is having big financial problems and now his Las Vegas golf-course home is in "pre-foreclosure"? Here's a link to a news story about it and here's an item on the Zillow.com real estate web site, which has some aerial photos of the house (pictured).

The doctor's house overlooks the 18th hole at Red Rock Country Club. The club has two well-liked courses, one public and one private. It looks, from studying Google maps, as if the doctor's home is on the public course, Arroyo, but I am not 100 percent certain.

-- P.F.
Posted by Peter Finch
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Keeping It Green

Thursday, July 30, 2009 Comments
zoysialawn.jpgCNBC's web site has a perversely amusing piece about one business that's doing well in the recession: companies that paint lawns green. Here's the link.

The article says demand for these services is way up now that so many lawns on foreclosed homes have gone totally brown. It quotes TJ Davis, founder of a service called Green Genie.  "It gives a house curb appeal, so when prospective buyers drive up, they know they won’t have to spend X number of dollars fixing up the lawn,“ he says.

Um, those prospective buyers must not be looking very carefully.

Anyway, Green Genie charges 25 cents a square foot, so the average lawn would cost about $250 to $300, CNBC says.

-- P.F.

Posted by Peter Finch
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Rough Roundup

Wednesday, July 29, 2009 Comments
ip_icon_03_ButtonDown.jpgWow. Thank heavens for this report in today's New York Times. It's about how how the housing market may have scraped bottom. I'm not saying I totally believe it -- I'm just relieved. Because lately, the news on golf course communities and resorts has been pretty grim.

Instead of writing an entire item on each one of these news stories that crossed my desk in recent days, I'll just give you a quick summary:

* Olde Towne, a planned Raleigh, N.C., golf course community has gone into foreclosure, says TV station WRAL.

* Developers of high-end communities are having all kinds of (not entirely unexpected) problems in the Hendersonville, N.C., area. The region has an inventory of 84(!) months of homes in the $600,000 range, reports the Hendersonville Times-News.

* North Carolina developer Keith Vinson, whose Seven Falls project is to include an Arnold Palmer-designed course, is the subject of a not-too-flattering profile in the Times-News. (The gist: People say he's not paying his bills, a charge he denies.)

* High-end resorts everywhere are being foreclosed upon, and this article from CNNMoney.com dutifully lays out some of the biggest casualties.

* People living in communities built by Florida's Bonita Bay Group are still gnashing their teeth over a variety of financial problems, the Fort Meyers News-Press explains here.

* People are still angry at Tim and Edra Blixseth, the now-divorced couple behind Montana's splashy Yellowstone Club. They gave separate interviews to the Palm Springs Desert Sun, and you can read all about it here.

* Golfers are going hungry. They're shutting the Rattlesnake Restaurant at Palm Springs' Classic Club, former site of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Like I said: At least the New York Times thinks the housing market may have hit bottom....

--P.F.



Posted by Peter Finch
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Iowa's Glen Oaks In Foreclosure

Friday, July 24, 2009 Comments
GlenOaks9.jpgGlen Oaks Country Club, whose Tom Fazio-designed course is rated second best in Iowa by Golf Digest, is in foreclosure. So reports the Des Moines Register.

The club and the surrounding homeowners' association are in default on $7.7 million in loans and missed payments in May and June, according to the newspaper. It quotes a statement from the board president saying the club will remain open through a "reorganization."

Glen Oaks, the first gated community in the Des Moines area when it opened in 1991,  hosted  the Principal Charity Classic Champions Tour event last month.

-- P.F.

Posted by Peter Finch
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Citigroup Takes Monarch Beach

Monday, July 20, 2009 Comments
st-regis-resort-monarch-beach.jpgSouthern California's St. Regis Monarch Beach golf resort now belongs to Citigroup, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The resort, home to a Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course, missed payments on a $70 million mezzanine loan from Citigroup, the paper says. Citing sources familiar with the situation, the Journal says Monarch Beach's $230 million mortgage is not in default.

Like many golf resorts, Monarch Beach been suffering from sharply lower occupancy rates. Occupancy in the first quarter was about 20 percent below last year's level, the Journal is reporting. At times this year, it says, Monarch Beach has only been 15 percent occupied. This may not have helped: The resort suffered some unwelcome publicity last year when AIG held a $414,000 retreat there shortly after taking billions in federal aid.

-- P.F.
Posted by Peter Finch
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Timberlake's $16 Million Course to Open in Memphis

Thursday, July 16, 2009 Comments
Believe it or not, there are golf courses going into business these days. One of them is Mirimichi, a public course set to open -- or re-open, actually -- next week near Memphis.

The course is the dream of pop star Justin Timberlake, who happens to be a Memphis native. Plans were to close Mirimichi in late 2007 and turn it into a housing development. But Timberlake -- a passionate golfer who has played in two Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge events and is the celebrity host of the PGA Tour's annual tournament in Las Vegas -- stepped in and bought the facility. Then, according to this story in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, he spent $16 million to renovate it.

The new Mirimichi sounds impressive: 7,400 yards from the tips, 80 bunkers, six lakes, two creeks, four waterfalls (Donald Trump will be jealous), an 18-hole putting course, a par-35 executive course (scheduled to open in October), a caddie program, and certification from the Audubon Classic Sanctuary Program. Reasonable green fees as well: $59 Monday through Thursday, $71 Friday through Sunday.

Mirimichi director of golf Greg King told the Commercial-Appeal, "The course is really going to be a world-class experience."

--G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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For Sale: Two Amazing Houses at Hualalai

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Comments
In this economy, good deals on golf houses are to be found everywhere: even at Hualalai, the four-star golf resort (Four Seasons Hotel) and community on Hawaii's Big Island. Check out this story, which announces the upcoming auction August 10 of two homes at Hualalai, which had been originally listed at $10.3 million and $9.1 million, but didn't sell.

We were going to describe the properties ourselves, but then figured we would let the story do that for us:

"The first property, 72-151 Lau'eki Street, is located on 25,000 square feet of land. It contains a 5,900-square-foot residence with 4,600 square feet of air conditioned living space including five bedrooms, five baths and one half-bath, and more than 1,300 square feet of covered lanais including a 590-square-foot dining lanai.

The second property, 72-155 Lau'eki Street, is on 21,000 square feet of land, with 4,416 square feet of interior living area and more than 1,200 square feet of lanais. It includes four bedrooms, four baths and one half-bath, and a two-plus car garage.

Both homes feature a custom-designed swimming pool with infinity edge and integrated spa, covered entry with zen garden, outdoor kitchen, and a private outdoor shower garden. The interiors are offered with furnishings and include an expansive kitchen with high-quality stainless steel appliances, media room with 50-inch plasma television, and an integrated music speaker system."

The story never even mentions what would matter most to a potential buyer/golfer: the Jack Nicklaus designed golf course at Hualalai, which serves as the annual host of the Champions Tour's Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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A Squabble Over Homes At Concession

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Comments
concession9.jpgDeveloper Ken Daves is about to open the $15 million, 33,000-square-foot clubhouse at Southwest Florida's high-end Concession Golf Club, site of a Tony Jacklin-Jack Nicklaus design (pictured) that was recognized as Golf Digest's Best New Private Course in 2006.

But he got some unwelcome news recently, as Wachovia Bank filed a lawsuit seeking to foreclose on Daves' Concession Golf & Residences over a $22 million loan, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports. Daves is quoted as saying "this is not a problem loan by any stretch" and suggests Wachovia may be a "predatory lender."

Wachovia is also suing the Concession's homeowners association. Its attorney did not return calls for comment, the Herald Tribune says.

The lawsuit involves 113 home lots in the second phase of development at Concession, the newspaper says. It doesn't affect the initial phase of homes in the 1,200-acre community in Manatee County.

-- P.F.

Posted by Peter Finch
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Michigan Development Heads to Bankruptcy Court

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Comments
Macatawa Legends, a $25 million residential golf development in Holland Township, Mich., heads to bankruptcy court this week, a victim (it seems) of a recesson-choked real estate market and the moribund national economy. The Holland (Mich.) Sentinel has the story here.

Six-year-old Macatawa Legends is a 500-acre property with more than 500 homes and condo sites, a clubhouse and a 7,254-yard Rayond Hearns-designed golf course that opened in 2005. But the project has struggled and the golf course and clubhouse were taken over in May by Macatawa Bank, the lendor on the project. The bank claims it is owed $18 million by Macatawa Legends' developers, Partner's Fore.

Of course, sometimes a trip to bankruptcy court can be the beginning of a turnaround, and at least one person -- local realtor Jack Bouman, who works for Coldwell Banker -- thinks that could be the case with Macatawa Legends.

"While [bankruptcy] is a horrible process, in terms of the losses a number of investors have taken and losses the bank has incurred, at this point I think it's going to fall into good hands," Bouman told the Sentinel. "I think it's a very strong step forward."

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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