FSM Redevelopment partners may soon invest at least $7 million in the acquisition and renovation of the Fort Smith, Ark., property, with a goal of closing the deal before the end of the year. Though the developer did not reveal specific plans, a design and facility plan will likely be complete by April 2014, with construction and renovation beginning in early summer, and work complete by fall 2015.
FSM Redevelopment Partners may soon invest at least $7 million in the acquisition and renovation of the Fianna Hills Country Club in Fort Smith, Ark., the Fort Smith-based City Wire reported.
Lance Beaty, a partner with Dr. Stephen Nelson in FSM Redevelopment Partners, has confirmed he is working with club owners David Mille and Jim Shields on buying the club and 18-hole golf course. Both sides are in the due diligence phase, with a goal to close on a deal before the end of the year, the Wire reported.
Shields and Mille, who have owned the property since 2003, are working with Beaty on the possible transaction. Shields said it’s time to hand the club over to a new owner with a new vision, the Wire reported.
“It’s like raising a kid, because there comes a time when you and the kid need to separate,” Shields said.
There have been several renovations made to the club in recent years, including a major overhaul of the golf course, but Shields said it needs much more. “This place is due for a major renovation.”
Though Beaty would not go on the record with specific plans, he said the club will be “extensively” gutted and modernized. The investment may include a renovation of the pool area and “significant” expansion of meeting, dining and other spaces, the Wire reported.
If the deal closes by the end of the year, Beaty estimates a design and facility plan will be complete by April 2014, with bids going out in May. New construction and renovation of existing facilities could begin in early summer, with the work completed by fall 2015, the Wire reported.
“People who know Lance know that he’s not coming here just to sit on his hands,” Shields said. “Yes, we will have a few naysayers, but I don’t expect many. I think in general it will be received very positively.”
The club has struggled in recent years with membership and revenue. According to an IRS report for the club’s fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, the club posted revenue of $1.9 million, down from the $2.046 million in the previous fiscal year. The revenue in the year ended June 30, 2012, fell to $1.693 million, the Wire reported.
Also, membership revenue in the 2012 fiscal year was $858,484, down from the $1.035 million in the 2011 fiscal year, the Wire reported.
Beaty’s model is to “reposition” the club in a manner that expands the demographic reach and revenue sources, the Wire reported.
“That’s the key to this, to reach a different, a younger audience and demographic,” Beaty said. “And just like we found out with the expo center, there will not be another venue in this market that will provide the range of amenities, event and social activities that we will have here.”
Also, Beaty noted, the supply of such facilities on geography that overlooks a large portion of Fort Smith is limited, the Wire reported.
“This is hard and expensive property to replicate—it has good bones,” Beaty said.
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