Struggling MN Private Club Sold - To Become Daily Fee

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

A struggling private course in Minnesota is sold for $3.8 million - the new owners will try to make of a go of it as a  daily fee facility.  

 

Is this is sign of things to come?

 

The Hastings Country Club at 2015 Westview Drive in Hastings is expected to reopen in spring under new ownership. Staff photo: Bill Klotz

Hastings Country Club sold for $3.8 million

By: Hank Long  Hank Long November 18, 2015 3:38 pm 0

 

The new owners of the Hastings Country Club hope to turn around the struggling venue by opening the golf course to the public.

 

St. Paul-based All Pro Holdings LLC, described as a group of private investors, has paid $3.8 million in cash for the club and course on a 200-acre site that once was a farm. The sale closed Nov. 13, according to a certificate of real estate value that became public Tuesday.

 

The private club and golf course, which opened in 1947, went up for sale in fall 2014 after years of struggling to keep afloat financially, said Todd Crane, the new general manager. The name will be changed to the Dakota Pines Golf Course, he added.

 

The address of the buyer is tied to J. Dixon Tews, a St. Paul-based attorney. Tews did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday. The Hastings Country Club is listed as the seller.

 

Crane said the club had carried significant debt in recent years and had relied on financing help from Vermillion Bank.

 

The course is tucked into a residential neighborhood on the southwest quadrant of highways 55 and 61 at 2015 Westview Drive in Hastings. The only golf course in the Hastings city limits, the club's southern edge is bounded by the Vermillion River.

 

A 2014 balance sheet on the club's IRS 990 form showed it had $3.2 million in assets and $5.9 million in liabilities, according to GuideStar.

 

The new owners are committed to keeping the property as a golf course for as long as its new business model – a semi-private club – remains viable, said Crane, a former longtime member of the club who once served as its president.

 

“It's a fantastic piece of property with a beautiful facility and views, and its location is perfect for the opportunity that it now has to appeal more to the local community,” he added.

 

The country club's board of directors last fall decided to close the course until a new buyer was found. But it later decided to open it in May on a limited basis to keep the course maintained, Crane said.

“It really wasn't a successful year. We had no marketing or advertising, but we did open it up to folks who wanted to play it for daily fees,” Crane said.

 

The plan is to reopen in spring as a semi-private club that has daily rates available to the public, Crane said. The 23,312-square-foot dining and banquet facility, built in 2001, will reopen but will offer a more casual dining menu along with a full bar, Crane said.

 

“I think in the past (the club) tried to be all things to all people, and the fine dining was a real drain on the club,” Crane said. “So we want to keep it simple.”

 

The club will once again be available to host weddings, banquets and other events, Crane said.

 

Crane said the new owners may consider future development uses on the site if the golf course's new business model doesn't work out, but declined to speculate any further.

 

“This club is an asset to the community, we've had a lot of people just stopping by in recent weeks to ask what is going to happen,” Crane said. “The community's interest in it remaining a golf course is genuine.”

 

In 2012 the club played host to the Minnesota Golf Association's state amateur championship, a fact not lost on MGA executive director Tom Ryan, who said he was aware of the course's struggles with dwindling membership in recent years.

 

“It's a quality facility and golf course, so it's good to know that somebody sees the value that it brings,” Ryan said.

 

Although Ryan noted there have been more course closings than openings across the state in recent years, he doesn't think interest in golf has waned.

 

“My experience with the issue is that a course closing is really related to business reasons that a particular course faces; it's not always directly related to the level of interest in golf, per se.”

 

In July, the Minnetonka Country Club in Shorewood was sold to a residential developer for $15.2 million. Mattamy Homes has been working with the city to determine the size and type of single-family homes it will build on the site.

Read more: http://finance-commerce.com/2015/11/hastings-country-club-sold-for-3-8-million/#ixzz3s3VldNu4

[mcavoy]

I wish them well.  I wonder what the greens fees will be?

[Kenny B]

"Country clubs and cemeteries are the biggest wasters of prime real estate! Dead people? They don't need to be buried nowadays. Ecology, right? Ask Wang. He'll tell you. We just bought property behind the Great Wall. On the good side!"

[revkev]

If this were here it wouldn't be news at all.  We constantly have clubs switching from Private to Daily fee or going under.  To me the sad thing is the age of the club.  Has the neighborhood changed?