[sogagg] Re: News from the Front

From: "Gar Wright" <gar.wright77@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <sogagg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2018 20:02:14 -0800

DJ,

So glad that SOGAGG wasn't named as the primary reason for Golf course
closings in Vegas.    Thanks for sending this along.  Hope you guys are
enjoying yourselves.

Best wishes,

Gar

Gar Wright

(cell) 619-733-3309

(fax) 619-435-0747

gar.wright77@xxxxxxxxx

From: sogagg-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sogagg-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Dwayne Junker
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 4:43 PM
To: sogagg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [sogagg] News from the Front

SOGAGG Colleagues,

Greetings from Las Vegas where the temperature yesterday and today peaked
out at 65 degree, no wind and lots of sunshine.  A couple of updates if you
weren't aware of them:

1.        For those of us who played the Badlands Golf Course during a past
SOGAGG Las Vegas outing, a beautiful but cruel 27 hole course that brought
almost everyone to their knees, it closed in late 2015.  For the past two
years, the acreage has been the center of a significant dispute between the
city, the owner, the wannabe developers and numerous activist groups.

2.       The Wynn Hotel golf course closed Dec. 17th, 2017.  Kay and I were
set to play it a couple of years ago while staying at the hotel.  When I
queried the cost, I was told it would be $700 for the two of us "because
your Wynn guests."  We declined.  Non-guests paid an even $500 per player.

3.       Silverstone has closed; Black Mountain and Sienna are "in trouble"
but of course there are plenty of courses here to play.  All of this seems
to be part of a nation trend.  See below:

Golf course ownership becoming a tough market in Las Vegas

The Badlands golf course in the master-planned community of Queensridge has
been in a legal battle for more than two years. (Patrick Connolly
RJRealEstate.Vegas)

The Badlands golf course in the master-planned community of Queensridge has
been in a legal battle for more than two years. (Patrick Connolly
RJRealEstate.Vegas)

BY JEFFREY MEEHAN SPECIAL TO REALESTATE.VEGAS

July 30, 2017 - 10:52 am

The list has been getting longer for the number of golf course owners in Las
Vegas that have sold or entered bankruptcy in the past couple of years. Many
of these courses have been attached to communities where residents feared
things such as closure, redevelopment or long periods of uncertainty because
of litigation.

Well-known courses such as Badlands, Legacy Golf Club and Silverstone Golf
Club were just a few of the names that are set to see changes. There are
roughly 60 golf courses in Las Vegas and some of the surrounding areas.

"I don't think at this point it's known for any of them, but they're
certainly in various stages of moving onto something different than a golf
course," said George Garcia, owner of Las Vegas-based G.C. Garcia Inc., a
land planning and development services firm.

Garcia has worked with residents at Badlands, who are in opposition to the
redevelopment proposals at Queensridge.

Across the nation, the number of courses has shrunk by 800 in the past
decade, according to research from the National Golf Foundation. Much of
this is because of lagging interest in the sport and an overabundance of
golf courses.

Redevelopment efforts

The Badlands golf course in the master-planned community of Queensridge has
been in a battle for more than two years.

In June, developer Yohan Lowie of EHB Cos. forced a vote on four proposals
at the Las Vegas City Council that would have permitted 61 homes on 34 acres
of the closed 250-acre course. Lowie threatened to stop watering the course,
with withdrawing a plan to raise 2,100 condominiums at the site and selling
the land if the council delayed the vote.

All were denied.

The only development approved has been for 435 condominium units at the
eastern edge of the course.

The vote to approve that development led to a contentious race in June Ward
2 between Steve Seroka and incumbent Bob Beers, who was unseated.

Garcia said the development plan is heading back to the city Aug. 2.

The Legacy Golf Course was one of the latest to be sold. The new owners,
Georges Maalouf and Eddie Haddad, have closed the course as of July 4, the
day the course sold under Par Excellence Drive Trust LLC.

"Over the next 60 to 90 days, the representing trustees of the properties
will continue open communications with the city of Henderson officials and
will begin timely discussions with the neighboring businesses and
residents," said Elizabeth Trosper, representative for the new owners. "It
is their intent to create a planned-use development that will be enjoyed by
neighboring homeowners and provides uses that enhance the viability of the
location."

In a statement, Trosper said the clubhouse and course were closed by the new
owners "due to massive financial losses, increased operating costs and
declining revenue over the past several years."

On July 25, residents of the Grand Legacy Community Association filed a
motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent new development on the
property. The motion maintains that deed restrictions prohibit the new
owners from redeveloping the property for 50 years.

A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 3 at the Regional Justice Center at 11 a.m.

Changing industry

Golf has lost a lot of players it once captured.

According to data from the National Golf Foundation, an estimated 30 million
people were playing the game. By 2011, that number slipped to 25.7 million -
a little more than a 14 percent decline.

In a study done in 2015 by Sports & Fitness Industry Association, a trade
association for sports and fitness brands, suppliers, retailers and partners
found that the number of people that participated in a game of golf at least
once that year was 24.7 million.

The higher number of golfers at one time led to many new courses being built
- many of which were attached to real estate.

During the 1960s, the National Golf Foundation found that 18 percent of some
380 golf courses built annually were part of a real estate development. That
went up dramatically in a boom period during the 1990s when 40 percent of
golf courses were developed alongside a real estate development, according
to a study by David Hueber, Clemson University, "The Changing Face of the
Game and Golf's Built Environment."

"People, at the time (early 1990s), were looking at this gigantic
demographic bubble of retirees that were going to be playing golf, and we
need a golf course a day when the baby boomers start to retire," said Jeff
Woolson, managing director of CBRE's Golf & Resort Group. "Well, they did
it, there were several years where they built over a golf course a day."

Over the past decade, many communities were built around courses, but some
didn't have enough residents to support the course to begin with - having
too little residents to be able to maintain a course, he said.

"We've gone through a phase over the last 10 years with a lot of these golf
courses closing, and it's healthy for the industry," Woolson said.

Golf course closures, regardless of the reasoning, can affect real estate
prices and have done so in the Queensridge community with the closure of
Badlands.

"As soon as the news came out that the golf course was going to be removed,
people jumped on the market, they put their homes on the market," said Diane
Varney, Realtor at Coldwell Banker Premier Realty. "We had way too much
supply of homes for sale in there."

Issues with value and uncertainty can present problems for being able to
sell a home or get a good price. Varney said there is a definite premium for
a home that sits on a golf course, has a water feature or has a good view -
sometimes gaining hundreds of thousands more dollars for sellers.

While things seem bleak in many parts of the valley for communities
surrounding golf courses, some neighborhoods are getting a premium.

Varney said lots at The Summit Club in Summerlin are getting anywhere
between $2 million and $10 million for custom lots on the 555-acre country
club community.

One of the developers on the Summit Club in partnership with Arizona-based
Wolff Co., a real estate private equity firm, made a deal at the end of 2016
to buy the Las Vegas Country Club at 3000 Joe W Brown Drive.

Other course sales, closures

Black Mountain Golf and Country Club at 500 Greenway Road, near E. Horizon
Drive and Greenway Road, is another course that has run into trouble and
could see redevelopment. Owners of the course filed for bankruptcy March 30,
but it is still operating.

The course became troubled after the recession caused discretionary spending
to slow, which affected the number of people playing at the course over the
past several years, said Candace Carolyn, attorney at Clark Hill.

"Members even made loans to keep the property operating," Carolyn said.
"They've explored every avenue, but the bottom line is that the golf course
operations are not profitable."

The Silverstone Ranch Community Association is still in pending litigation
over the closure of the Silverstone Golf Club at 8600 Cupp Drive at the end
of 2015. Stoneridge Parkway LLC, which bought the property in December 2015,
filed for bankruptcy not long after. In mid-April, however, its case was
dismissed.

Desert Lifestyles, which bought the course and clubhouse just before
Stoneridge in September 2015, closed the facility at that time. Desert was
sued by Silverstone Ranch Community Association for its action, and
litigation is still ongoing.

The Siena Golf Club in Summerlin has also had its troubles.

As reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on April 26, Dr. David Lee, one
of three owners of Siena, wrote homeowners by email stating he may want to
sell the course, as it's losing money. The homeowner's association was
considering voting on the proposal.

Investment has also happened in the golf sector. Apollo Global Management
LLC, a private equity firm, agreed to pay $1.1 billion for ClubCorp
Holdings. ClubCorp has two holdings in Las Vegas: Canyon Gate County Club at
Sahara Avenue and Durango Drive and Bear's Best Las Vegas, which sits just
west of Town Center Drive on Flamingo Road.

Cheers to all,

/Ace

Dwayne N. Junker

Senior Advisor

Office of the President

(W) 619-702-1700

(M) 619-279-2008

References:
- [sogagg] News from the Front
  - From: Dwayne Junker

[sogagg] Re: News from the Front

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