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Blixseth's $75 Million Estate Goes on Sale

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Comments
Here at Deeds & Weeds, we've blogged extensively about the downfall of Tim and Edra Blixseth and their private club empire -- their most famous property being the Yellowstone Club in Montana.

But the most breathtaking sign of their wealth might have been their personal residence, Porcupine Creek, a 249-acre estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., which is now on sale for the hold-your-gasp price of $75 million.

What do you get for that kind of dough? Plenty, naturally. For starters, a 25,000-square-foot main residence, four 2,400-square-foot guest houses and four 800-square-foot guest cottages (in case you were wondering what the difference is between a guest house and a guest cottage, apparently it's 1,600 square feet). A wine cellar, commercial kitchen, home theater, pool with waterfall ... and, of course, a golf course. This one is 19 holes (there is a bye hole), with the design credited to the triumvirate of Tom Weiskopf, Dave Stockton and Annika Sorenstam.

The Street has a good story here about the property, with the interesting conclusion that if and when the estate finally sells -- and who knows when that will be -- it will be turned from a private residence into a resort.

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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Cliffs Asking Members For Help

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Comments
What does a golf development do when it needs money and the bank aren't lending? 

If you are The Cliffs Communities, you try something a little out of the ordinary: You ask your members for help.

According to this story in the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times, Cliffs Communities is trying to raise $60 to $100 million, and it has sent letters to its members (an estimated 2,400 at six different developments in North and South Carolina, including High Carolina, where Tiger Woods is building a golf course) to see if they would like to contribute.

The story explains, "[Cliffs Communities] head Jim Anthony said the proposal is a product of the scarcity of funds available from traditional lenders and arose from periodic discussions Cliffs officials have with property owners. 'We have bankers and hedge fund guys,' and other property owners with significant resources and financial expertise, Anthony said. 'It was their initiative.' "

At least one member thinks it's a good idea.

"I think the proposal is worthy of consideration ... because it's well understood that the Cliffs needs additional capital to complete its projects at hand," Miller Williams, a property owner at Walnut Cove and chairman of its Finance Advisory Committee, told the Citizen-Times. "I trust my neighbor a lot more than a private equity group."

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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Tiger's Mexico Course: Groundbreaking in 2010

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Comments
Make it three for three.

Since the Tiger Woods scandal broke, there has been speculation about the status of his three golf course projects (I might add the struggling economy, and its effect on golf and the real estate markets, didn't help matters). Now, in the space of three weeks, the backers of those projects have gone on the offensive, insisting those courses -- in Dubai, North Carolina and Mexico -- will eventually be built, come hell or high water.

The most recent story concerned the course in Mexico: Punta Brava, in Ensenada about 65 miles down the coast from San Diego. In this article in Sunday's San Diego Union-Tribune, the developers said ground would be broken on the $100 million project this year, with a grand opening planned for 2012. That's two years later than originally scheduled, but officials blamed a long permitting process. As for their course architect, Punta Brava's backers insist they remain committed.

"No matter what, Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world, and there is nobody else that we would rather have design our golf course than the best golfer in the world," Brian Tucker, a vice president of The Flagship Group, Punta Brava's development company, told the Union-Tribune.

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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Golf Houses For $100 Million

Friday, January 22, 2010 Comments
Now this was kind of a fun article, even if it has no basis in reality -- at least not my own. TheStreet.com, using figures provided by the real estate website Zillow.com, has a list of homes in the U.S. for sale for the staggering price of $75 million and up.

Two of them have a golf connection. 

The first is "Tranquility," a 10,000 square-foot on 210 acres near California's Lake Tahoe. Built by Joel Horowitz, "one of the co-founders of Tommy Hilfiger," the house has a staircase modeled after one that was on the Titanic, a cigar lounge inspired by one at New York's St. Regis Hotel and -- outside -- a two-hole golf course. Asking price: $100 million.

The second is Albemarle House in Charlottesville, Va. The house has 45 rooms and more than 25,000 square feet, and it is the centerpiece of a 300-acre property with three ponds, guest cottages and -- ta-da -- an 18-hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer. The catch is that the course hasn't actually been built yet, which -- in our opinion -- makes the $100 million price tag seem a little steep.

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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No New Course For Monterey Peninsula

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Comments
There will be no new golf course built on the Monterey Peninsula. That's the result of a new plan adopted by the Pebble Beach Co. after a previous development proposal was rejected by the California Coastal Commission two years ago.

The San Jose Mercury-News has the story here.

In 2000, voters adopted a ballot measure that proposed significant development of land on the Monterey Peninsula, including another golf course to join Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, et al. But seven years later, the coastal commission defeated the measure, which sent the Pebble Beach Co. back to the drawing board. 

According to the Mercury-News, "Opponents [of the 2000 plan] said the development would destroy up to 18,000 Monterey pines, and commission staff members said it was at odds with coastal policies to protect environmentally sensitive habitat. The new plan calls for a small hotel with up to 100 homes at the old Spyglass quarry; 80 new rooms at the Lodge at Pebble Beach and 60 new rooms at the Inn at Spanish Bay; and 90 single-family homes."

In a statement, Pebble Beach Co. chief executive Bill Perocchi said, "The commission staff and Pebble Beach Co. have been working to develop a project we could both support. ... We are very pleased that, together, we have been able to achieve that goal."

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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Arizona Update: 'Getting Hit From All Sides'

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Comments
The Arizona Republic starts the new year with an update on the overall golf market in Phoenix and the surrounding suburbs. In summary: golf course owners and developers aren't noticing any rebound, at least not yet. Some, uh, highlights:

Many private clubs have opened their courses to the public, even for just one or two days a week, in an effort to increase rounds and revenue.

Many facilities are negotiating green fees. One golfer talks about having played the Arizona Biltmore for $55, and guesses it would have cost him twice that much a year ago.

Arizona officials estimate that "only" 5 percent of the state's approximately 340 golf facilities are in dire economic condition, compared to 15 percent nationally.

The story said there were no golf course residential developments opened in Arizona in 2009 -- startling news (economic troubles notwithstanding) considering how "white hot" the state's golf market was as recently as five years ago.

You can read the complete story here.

-- G.R.


Posted by Geoff Russell
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Country Club of South Sells For $11.1 million

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Comments
An update to the Jan. 4 post on the Country Club of the South: the suburban Atlanta club, which recently went into foreclosure, was sold Tuesday at auction for $11.1 million. The new owner is the Bank of North Georgia, located in Alpharetta.

News of the sale was reported by the Atlanta Business Journal. As we noted previously, the sale involved only the golf club and its facilities (including its Jack Nicklaus designed golf course). The 700 private homes that make up Country Club of the South were not part of the foreclosure or the sale.

-- G.R.


Posted by Geoff Russell
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'People Are Cutting Golf Out of Their Diets"

Monday, November 23, 2009 Comments
Roger Vincent had a story in Sunday's Los Angeles Times about the difficult state of the golf course and golf real estate business in this country. Having read a similar version of this story more than once in the last 12 months, I would say there wasn't a lot that was new here, other than an update on where we are with course closures in the U.S. in 2009 (114 through September, according to Vincent and the National Golf Foundation, offset by 44 course openings).

Still, it's a worthwhile read, since it pulls together all of the relevant statistics and details about the struggling golf business, as well as focuses specifically on the Southern California market. Imagine, for instance, being able to buy a Los Angeles area country club of $6.5 million (as Vincent reports of Chevy Chase CC in Glendale)? You couldn't get a bathroom in Malibu so cheap...

-- G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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Long Island Club, Wrecked by Madoff, Finds Buyer

Monday, November 23, 2009 Comments
North Shore CC, a 95-year-old club on Long Island that was decimated by the Bernie Madoff scandal and facing possible closure, has found a savior. Don Zucker, a New York real estate developer, has offered to buy the club from its members for $12.5 million. Details here in the New York Post.

According to the story, the club's membership rolls had declined from 175 to 110 in the wake of the Madoff financial bombshell ("Bernie did a lot of damage here," one unidentified member told the Post) and more than two dozen employees had been laid off.

But Zucker has big plans to revive the club, which has an A.W. Tillinghast desgined course, from cutting membership dues by 40 percent to adding amenities (like a luxury health spa). "I always wanted to own a golf course," Zucker told reporters.

--G.R.
Posted by Geoff Russell
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Omaha's Ironwood CC to Close

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Comments
Ironwood CC, one of the oldest golf clubs in Omaha (founded in 1924, and originally called Highland CC) will close at the end of this year, unable to make the debt payments on a huge loan it took out in 1999 to pay for capital improvements. The property is to be sold at a trustee auction Jan. 22. Details in this story in the Omaha World-Herald.

Sadly, the aspects of Ironwood's troubles are all-too-familiar in the private club world these days. Ten years ago, when the golf business was much more bullish than it is now, the club felt it needed a better clubhouse in order to compete with other golf facilities in Omaha -- so it borrowed $10.7 million for that and other internal projects.

But the economy soured, and Ironwood's membership plummeted -- the story says the club now has between 200-225 members, down from a one-time high of 350 members (plus 250 more who were social members only). That means a lot less business for that new clubhouse, which probably was a factor in the loan becoming overdue.

-- G.R.

Posted by Geoff Russell
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