In September 2016, members voted to sell the club to a partnership made up of the Wolff Company and Discovery Land, but the potential owners called off the sale because of four factors, including groundwater being found too close to the surface and declining revenues. “We got right to the altar and they backed out,” said outgoing General Manager Gordon Digby.
According to Gordon Digby, outgoing General Manager of Las Vegas Country Club, members aren’t happy after the sale of the club fell through last week, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
In September 2016, equity club members voted to sell to a partnership made up of the Wolff Company and Discovery Land, but representatives of the buyers notified club management they were backing out of the deal, the Review-Journal reported.
Club president Michael Singer advised club members of the news in an email. According to a source, the potential owners called off the sale because of four factors, including groundwater being found too close to the surface, which would potentially interfere with the building of a new residential tower, and also reported declining revenues of the club, the Review-Journal reported.
The sale agreement included rights to 867-acre feet of water, but contentious negotiations between club representatives and the potential new owners about the possible transfer of some of that water to Discovery Land’s new Summit project in Summerlin could have also led to the deal falling apart. Club members are contemplating potential litigation against Wolff/Discovery in an effort to recoup costs associated with the due diligence of the deal, the Review-Journal reported.
All doesn’t appear lost for club members who still seem intent to sell. There were several groups that made bids to buy the course prior to the Wolff/Discovery Land agreement, the Review-Journal reported.
“It’s been a long, tiring transaction and we got right to the altar and they backed out,” Digby said. “The bottom line is that the membership is very upset but there are other buyers waiting in the wings. The club is going to sell and it’s not going anywhere.”
An official with Discovery Land declined comment to the Review-Journal.
Digby is leaving Friday to take a new job at the historic Southward Ho Country Club in Bay Shore, N.Y. He will be replaced by his assistant general manager Garth Walker. The timing of Digby’s departure had nothing to do with the sale not being finalized, the Review-Journal reported.
“I loved my time in Las Vegas,” Digby said. “I loved the membership and the friends I met. I will miss it but I’m from the east coast and this is going home for me.”
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