The project, which will be named Legacy Point and feature a 450-acre golf course, comes 10 years after another development company planned a Nicklaus golf course in the same county, which ultimately fell through due to prolonged litigation.
Plans for a long-delayed golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus were resurrected with Monday’s announcement that a new development company has engaged the legendary golfer to bring a 450-acre course to Wilmore, Ky., the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader reported.
The new development company, Legacy Point Capital, said it had engaged Nicklaus Design to bring a “Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course” to the Bluegrass. The project will be named Legacy Point, the Herald-Leader reported.
“Our team is focused on several objectives,” Nicklaus said in a release Monday. “I look forward to returning to the site soon to begin the design process, as we hope to create an exceptional golf experience, wrapped within this beautiful site and its natural surroundings.
“Legacy Point will have a strong emphasis on family and community, and our goal is to create a golf course that will not only be playable for all levels of golfers and all ages, but a source of great pride for the city of Wilmore and the Lexington community. With the site we have been given, there is enormous potential to create something unique and special.”
The only other course in Kentucky that Nicklaus designed is Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, the Herald-Leader reported.
The announcement Monday came 10 years after another development company, Kelley Properties LLC, announced it was bringing a course designed by Nicklaus to Jessamine County. That proposal, which featured a luxury residential community, was to be called Forest Creek. Wilmore City Council annexed the property in 2006, but the project never came to fruition because of prolonged litigation, the Herald-Leader reported.
That litigation has been resolved, clearing the way for Legacy Point Capital to resurrect the project, Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater said.
Legacy Point’s partners are John Loudon and Byron Holley. Legacy Point Capital is an investment banking and advisory firm focused on providing financial engineering services, the Herald-Leader reported.
“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the legendary Jack Nicklaus and his golf course design company,” Loudon and Holley said in a joint statement. “Our vision is to create a wonderful golf course through a sustainable design that embraces the environment, our members, services and amenities, and especially the surrounding community.”
Rainwater said he met with representatives of Legacy Point last week at city hall. The redesigned project, which is within Wilmore’s city limits, will have fewer residential units and more golf course, Rainwater said. He said that’s fine with him because bigger “higher-end” lots will mean more property taxes for the city of more than 6,000 residents, the Herald-Leader reported.
That’s important for Wilmore, where much of the property in the city limits is affiliated with religious denominations and are tax-exempt. While Legacy Point will be a private club, Rainwater said he was told that “at least one day a week it would be open as a public course.” He said the redesigned project will need approval from the Jessamine County-City of Wilmore Joint Planning Commission, the Herald-Leader reported.
But after 10 years of waiting, Rainwater said, he thinks the course will become a reality. “I won’t breathe a sigh of relief. but I think we’re closer to having this project completed than we’ve ever been,” Rainwater said.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.