Birkdale GC Pays Delinquent Taxes, Reopens

The Huntersville, N.C., property reopened two days after state tax officials abruptly closed and locked the facility for owing $64,990 to the state. An N.C. Department of Revenue spokesman said the club has paid the taxes in full and now has keys to the facility, but the club and its owner, Jeff Silverstein, may still have legal and financial hurdles ahead.

Birkdale Golf Club reopened on July 4, two days after state tax officials abruptly closed and locked the Huntersville, N.C., facility for failing to pay taxes on time, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported.

Trevor Johnson, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Revenue, said the company paid its delinquent state taxes in full. Tax default judgments from March show the company owed $64,990 to the state, the Observer reported.

“Birkdale has paid all the requisite taxes in full and has the keys to the facility,” said Johnson.

C&RB reported on the closure of the facility last week (“Police Shut Down Birkdale GC Over Tax Dispute”).

Birkdale Golf Club, along with its parent company, Carolina Trail Golf Partners, may still have legal and financial problems ahead. Birkdale is facing federal lawsuits from a lender, PNC Equipment Finance, seeking to repossess $440,000 worth of equipment from Birkdale Golf Club and Skybrook Golf Club, another Carolina Trail property, as well as $391,294 worth of damages, the Observer reported.

Public records show a $128,879 federal lien for unpaid taxes from the Internal Revenue Service. Mecklenburg County officials also said some of the other Carolina Trail courses owe local taxes, the Observer reported.

Owner Jeff Silverstein declined to talk with the Observer on Wednesday, but hinted that the decline in the golf industry could be to blame for his troubles.

“Every time I comment on it I just get skewered,” Silverstein said. “I just don’t see how it’s to my benefit to tell you about the disaster that’s pretty well documented in this industry.”