A group of investors is paying $1.8 million for the Kingston, N.Y., property, about half of the original asking price of $3.5 million. The group plans to make the golf course, restaurant, and pool open to the public, all at a “reasonable cost.”
The 11 investors who are buying the Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, N.Y., are paying $1.8 million, about half the original asking price, the Kingston-based Daily Freeman reported.
Kingston lawyer Joseph O’Connor, a member of the investment group, disclosed the price on January 8 and said the closing for the sale is to take place January 10. A celebration of the club’s “rebirth” will be held afterward, and investors will be available at that event to answer club members’ questions and listen to ideas for the club’s future, O’Connor said.
One change appears to be certain: O’Connor said the new owners plan to open Wiltwyck’s golf course, restaurant and pool to the public. Until now, those amenities have been available only to members, the Freeman reported.
O’Connor, a Wiltwyck member for about 20 years, said the investment group is working to offer pool memberships to the public at a “reasonable cost,” the Freeman reported.
Members of the financially struggling club voted last month to sell Wiltwyck to the investment group. The price was not disclosed at the time, but the $1.8 million figure that O’Connor divulged Monday is only about half of the $3.5 million for which the club originally was put on the market. The asking price later was reduced to $2.6 million, the Freeman reported.
Wiltwyck was at risk of closing after 63 years in operation until it got a temporary reprieve in late October from members who put up enough money to cover November’s expenses. The investment group made its offer in late November, the Freeman reported.
Two of the 11 investors, Accord resident Bill Collins and Kingston YMCA Executive Director Heidi Kirschner, said previously that Wiltwyck would change its business model to include, at first, public use of the 18-hole, par-72 golf course, the Freeman reported.
Collins, a member of the club who has served on its executive committee since 2014, had said he recognizes that some people in the community view Wiltwyck as elitist. “We want to change that,” he said.
Collins said previously that the new ownership group would continue operating the restaurant on the 150-acre property and continue to employ the current staff, the Freeman reported.
At its peak, Wiltwyck had more than 500 members, but that number began to decline after IBM closed its town of Ulster plant in the mid-1990s. Currently, the club has about 200 members, the Freeman reported.
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