Two shuttered properties, Wedgefield Plantation Country Club in Georgetown, S.C., and Island Green Country Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., are seeking new owners, and a foreclosure auction is scheduled for Island Green on February 6. Worcester Golf Club in Collegeville, Pa., will be sold “as is” in a sealed bid/online auction on February 7.
The owner of Wedgefield Plantation Country Club in Georgetown, S.C., continues to seek a buyer for the closed golf course and its many affiliated amenities as it continues to assess its options with the property, the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sun News reported.
Paramont Capital of Phoenix, Ariz., acquired Wedgefield and two other Grand Strand properties late last year after foreclosing on a defaulted loan to Wedgefield’s former owner, Ray Watts. According to Gary Roberts, who is involved in Wedgefield as vice president of business development for Coldwell Banker Chicora Real Estate, one sales contract for Wedgefield lapsed in the past two weeks and was not extended, and negotiations have begun with a new potential buyer, the News reported.
“We’re looking to sell for sure. We’re looking at all options right now,” said Paramont chief financial officer Kevin Wolfe. “We’re kind of testing the waters to see what’s out there and looking at all options. No decisions have been made.”
In addition to about 175 acres at Wedgefield, Paramont also acquired through foreclosure about 70 acres at Island Green Country Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., that formerly comprised the Dogwood nine, which closed in 2005 to drop the number of holes at Island Green from 27 to 18. The Island Green property is zoned for single-family homes, the News reported.
Robert Williamsen of Cornelius, N.C., has foreclosed on Island Green Country Club based on a defaulted loan of $1.45 million made to course owner Watts in November 2015. It is scheduled for a foreclosure auction on February 6, the News reported.
“It’s tough to say what we’ll do until we complete our due diligence and see what we have in all these locations,” Wolfe said. “It’s the same status on all three.”
Wedgefield’s golf course has been closed since June when Watts said business was too slow in the summer to warrant continued operation. He said he hoped to reopen in the fall, but the course has yet to reopen and is now in disrepair, as there has been no upkeep for several months and damage including downed trees remains from Hurricane Matthew, the News reported.
Redevelopment options at Wedgefield are limited. It is part of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) that requires much of the property to remain green space, though not necessarily a golf course. Extensive redevelopment would require rezoning. “We are aware there are development restrictions there,” Wolfe said.
Watts’ purchase included a manor house, guest cottage, several buildings including one that contains a snack bar and another that houses the golf pro shop, a swimming pool, maintenance barn, restaurant that seats more than 100, and two tennis courts. Watts renovated the Manor House but it has been closed since June, and the golf course would require investment before it reopens, the News reported.
Jacky Walton, president of the Wedgefield Plantation Association of homeowners, said he and several residents have been cutting grass, weeds and bushes on parts of the course to “keep things in a little bit better manner than what they had been at one time,” and residents cleaned up Wedgefield’s entrance following Hurricane Matthew.
“We would still like to see it operated as a golf course from the standpoint of beautification and recreation, that’s what we keep hoping for,” said Walton, who estimates the HOA encompasses about 370 homes, including 69 condos.
In Collegeville, Pa., the nine-hole Worcester Golf Club is going on the auction block, the Norristown, Pa., Times Herald reported.
Worcester Golf Club will be sold “as is” in a sealed bid/online style of auctioning, noted Sandy Alderfer of Sanford Alderfer Real Estate (SARE). “We will take the first round of bids in a sealed bid format that we must receive by Tuesday, February 7,” Alderfer said.
A sealed-bid auction process means that all bidders simultaneously submit sealed bids to the auctioneer, so that no bidder knows the amounts other participants have rendered, the Times Herald reported.
“If those bids are acceptable, the top two, three or four from qualified bidders will then go to online bidding on Thursday (February 9),” he explained. “It is an auction, but you’re never going to hear an auctioneer. With a lot of commercial properties we do a lot of online-only auctions now.”
The property is made up of two lots, which may be purchased individually or as a single entity, and it all embraces a clubhouse with a banquet hall, maintenance garage, parking lot and on-site wells and septic, the Times Herald reported.
Zoned as an agricultural district, the grounds could be given a new lease on life as vineyards, a farm market or single family homes, or they could retain their heritage as a golf course, Alderfer said.
“If the ground is bought for any other use than a golf course—let’s say somebody wants to build houses there—then on February 17 we sell all of the golf equipment. Our job is to bring as many people to the table as we can,” he said. “We bring all the people of many interests to come together in the same format and we sort out who has the most interest at the best price.”
Detailed property information package, property description and photos are available at AlderferRealEstate.com or by calling 215-723-1171, the Times Herald reported.
“That is why the auction method works, because we can bring everybody together on a given day and the seller can make a decision,” Alderfer noted. “If one offer is so far out ahead of the others, the seller can choose to take that one on Tuesday.”
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