Blackthorn GC, which is privately owned and managed, is set to be sold at auction October 16, with a minimum bid of $1.6 million. Elbel, a 300-plus acre property owned and operated by the city, opened in 1963 and is South Bend’s largest park.
The city of South Bend, Ind. is taking action that may put both Blackthorn Golf Club and Elbel Golf Course on the market, WNDU-TV in South Bend reported.
The South Bend Redevelopment Commission, which owns Blackthorn and contracts to have it managed privately, is preparing to offer the course through an auction to the highest bidder, WNDU reported. The minimum bid would be $1.6 million for bids that would be due on October 16.
Elbel, one of the city’s other three courses that are owned by the park department and run by city workers, opened in 1963, the year Studebaker, once a manufacturer of American-made cars, announced it would close its South Bend operations that ranked as one of the city’s largest employers. At 300-plus acres, Elbel is the largest single piece of park property the city owns, WNDU reported.
Not all public officlals are in favor of the sales, WNDU noted.
“We need to give the citizens as many options as possible for recreation in South Bend and sometimes you operate a golf course and you probably lose some money—[but] that doesn’t mean you go out and suddenly sell it to the highest bidder,” said South Bend Common Councilman At-Large Derek Dieter.
“We don’t know if it’s being sold as a golf course, it’s being sold for development—the whole thing is just very upsetting,” Dieter adding.
What is “upsetting” to one councilman, however, is “premature” to Deputy Mayor Mark Neal, WNDU reported. “Whenever you dispose of property, you start with getting some appraisals, and we’ve not initiated that effort [and] we haven’t spoken to anyone about that effort,” Neal told WNDU.
What city officials have talked a lot about lately is park priorities, WNDU noted, and the process has begun to put together a five-year master plan for the department. “What I would suggest is any assets within the park department that are not within the city boundaries are probably things that we should take a look at,” Neal said.
Elbel is one of only two park properties that lie outside the city limits at a time South Bend is looking at a hefty list of inner-city park improvement needs, the Deputy Mayor added. “If we have $37 million worth of capital needs over the next five years, and we have a bond of maybe $2.5 million, we have a $35 million gap that we’re trying to fill,” said Neal, “Have we made a decision yet? Do we have the ability to sell it next Monday [when the South Bend Park Board was to meet to adopt its master plan]? No, we don’t.”
Still, said Dieter, “I think it’s a bad idea to sell it. It’s a great piece of property, it’s a great golf course, and if people, the city administration wants to sell that just to help other parks and do that as a monetary thing, I think that’s a horrible plan.”
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