TMCnet News
For sale: First Coast golf courses [Corrected 03/01/12] ; Five are on the market now, and a sixth is likely to join within 2 months [Florida Times Union](Florida Times Union Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Want to buy a golf course? How about six of them? Perhaps it's a reflection of the economy. Perhaps it's simply chance. But at the moment five First Coast golf courses are up for sale and another will go on the market within 60 days. "I can't ever remember that many being on the market at the same time," said Dave Reese, executive director of Florida's First Coast of Golf, a marketing firm that promotes golf-related tourism in the area. Palencia,Royal St. Augustine and Cimarrone, all located in St. Johns County, are for sale, as is the lease on the Mill Cove Golf Course in Jacksonville. Mill Cove is on land adjacent to Craig Field that is owned by the Port Authority. Also on the block is Magnolia Point in Green Cove Springs. One real estate firm in Adel, Ga., Hilda W. Allen Real Estate, is listing three of the properties - Cimarrone, Royal St. Augustine and Mill Cove - and Allen said she expects her firm to be appointed to sell the Golf Club of Amelia Island, which is located next door to the Ritz-Carlton. Allen said the three properties she is listing are attracting "a lot of interest." M.G. Orender, president of Hampton Golf, which owns several courses on the First Coast, confirmed that his company has an interest in at least one of the courses listed by Allen but would not go into further detail. The positives are thatall of the properties are zoned for golf and can't be used for any other purpose. That's a better fate than the one that befell courses such as Baymeadows (Jacksonville), the Ravines (Middleburg) and the Ponce de Leon (St. Augustine). They were purchased with additional development in mind but the owners were not able to secure the proper zoning and all three courses are closed. "That's the good news about all of this," Reese said. "People will be able to keep playing golf on them after their sales." Palencia is the only one of the six that is not a "distress sale." Its original owner, Hines, had planned to sell the course once development reached a certain level and that time came about two weeks ago. The CB Richard Ellis Group is listing the property. A sale price has not been divulged. Allen said it's not unusual for multiple golf courses in one area to be up for sale at the same time. Her firm, which specializes in the sale or auction of golf courses, has 21 listings, mostly in the South. Mill Cove, which is listed for $1.25 million, is the closest to being finalized. The course, designed by Arnold Palmer, is listed as "sale pending" on Allen's website. "There is a contract going back and forth," she said of Mill Cove's status. Allen would not reveal the prospective buyer. Mill Cove's lease is currently owned by Silver Point, a hedge fund in Connecticut. The lease was sold to the hedge fund in 2008 by Bank of America after a foreclosure. Sealed bids for Royal St. Augustine, which is listed for $1.15 million, are being accepted by Feb. 22, with the highest bidder to be announced in March. Cimarrone has the highest listed price of the three, at $4.5 million. In addition to Mill Cove, the other courses listed by Allen or that have the listing pending also are owned by financial institutions. Cimarrone is owned by SPE Go Holdings of Alpharetta, Ga., a division of Textron Financial. Royal St. Augustine is owned by Redus of Florida, a division of Wells Fargo. The Golf Club of Amelia is co-owned by Fidelity Mutual and Summer Beach Amenities. Magnolia Point is listed for $2.1 million by the Tampa firm of Marcus and Millichip. Prospective buyers have been able to see the courses in good shape. Despite the ownership changes that all came roughly during the period of economic instability in 2007 and 2008, current course operators have been given decent maintenance budgets to keep the grass growing and green. "We're weed-free and our greens and bunkers are being maintained very well," said John Forbes, the general manager at Royal St. Augustine. "Wells Fargo has given us the resources to keep the course in good condition." Cimarrone recently remodeled its clubhouse both inside and out and the greens were rebuilt in 2008. "Textron has been a very good company to work with," said Cimarrone general manager Pat Ashe. "Things have improved under them and whoever buys the course is going to be getting a very good product." Mill Cove general manager Steve Matchett said that course - and perhaps the other three - can expect more improvements after the sales. "The bottom line of any purchase is that if you have to keep it as a golf course, you can expect some capital improvements," he said. "Being bank-owned, we've had somewhat of a limited budget but we've put a lot of effort into conditioning." Forbes said rounds in December more than doubled over December 2010, and January rounds jumped at least 70 percent over the previous January. Matchett pegged his rounds up about 30 percent over last winter and Ashe said his rounds were up about 20 percent. "We had forgotten what a Florida winter is supposed to feel like around here," Ashe said. "It can only help a sale when prospective buyers see the numbers."Garry Smits: (904) 359-4362 CORRECTION: Clarification February 10, 2012 (c) 2012 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |