More than three years after the Alachua, Fla., subdivision’s golf course and clubhouse closed, the Tennessee company has a contract to buy and reopen the property.
A Tennessee company has a contract to purchase the Turkey Creek Golf and Country Club in an effort to reopen the Alachua, Fla., subdivision’s golf course and clubhouse that has been closed since April 2011, the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun reported.
Rocky Morgan, president and CEO of the GSP Business Alliance, wrote a letter to community members forwarded by the Turkey Creek Master Owners Association on Saturday that says his company has a contract with current owner Wallace Cain and is proceeding with the “due diligence phase making sure all documents and information needed is fully correct and acceptable to both parties.”
Once that is done, the acquisition would be completed within 60 days, he wrote. Cain said Monday that the due diligence period would end on November 7, starting the 60-day clock then, the Sun reported.
“It’s the most solid thing we’ve had since we’ve been trying to sell the course, which has been a long time before we closed it,” he said. Cain also held out the possibility that the deal might not close, the Sun reported.
“If it doesn’t happen, it’ll be his decision, and I’m not one of those that tries to hold people to the legalities of the thing,” he said. “If it’ll work, it’ll work. I don’t want him to do it if he doesn’t think it’ll work.”
Morgan said the golf course needs a lot of cosmetic work but he thinks he can get it ready in six months or less once the deal closes. “We’ve got some guys that can grow grass on a rock. I’ll bring those guys in,” he said.
Morgan said he has been involved in golf course acquisitions for about five years, revitalizing golf clubs that are dead or dying. Morgan said he also bought courses “that went back to being cow pastures” when they couldn’t be salvaged, the Sun reported.
GSP, which stands for German shorthaired pointer, is based in Morristown, Tenn., and was incorporated in April 2013 along with sister company GSP Property Maintenance, which provides maintenance and landscaping services.
Morgan said his business model is to provide property maintenance and landscaping services to homes in golf course communities and put a portion of the money based on the volume of business back into the golf courses, the Sun reported.
That provides a revenue source from community members who might not otherwise use the golf course, he said.
“The Crayon version is you let me mow your grass, I’ll give you a golf cart and a tee time and you golf for free,” he said. “We work off of the volume. That’s how we pay for the golf course.”
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