Runk & Pratt Healthcare Enterprises will purchase the Daleville, Va., property in a sale that will likely close in January. The property includes a golf course, swimming pool, clubhouse and a 70-acre tract that was once a nine-hole golf course and will likely be redeveloped as a senior living facility.
Ownership of Ashley Plantation Country Club in Daleville, Va., will change hands at the beginning of next year, the Roanoke (Va.) Times reported.
Runk & Pratt Healthcare Enterprises Inc. has agreed to purchase the 18-hole golf course and surrounding property from the Bank of Fincastle. The bank has owned the Ashley Plantation Country Club since September, when it took possession through a deed in lieu of foreclosure after the subdivision’s developer, Ardith Overbay, ran into financial difficulties, the Times reported.
A sales price was not disclosed for the transaction, which has a closing date of January. In addition to the golf course, the club includes a swimming pool and clubhouse that are available through memberships to Ashley Plantation residents and members of the public. The golf course opened in 1999, the Times reported.
Runk & Pratt owns two other golf courses. The company said in an announcement of the pending sale that it uses golf as a backdrop for the “active lifestyle within adult and family-driven communities we serve.”
Also included in the deal is a 70-acre tract, which previously was a second, 9-hole golf course. That land could be used for residential development, the Times reported.
“While there are no definitive plans for development, the company will explore opportunities for active senior living in part of the undeveloped section of Ashley Plantation,” Runk & Pratt said in a statement.
Just north of Daleville, Ashley Plantation sits across from the Greenfield industrial park, where several new additions—a major brewery, an automotive parts factory and an industrial shell building—are creating a burst of economic development, the Times reported.
“It just makes good business sense to be a part of all that growth,” Brian Runk, president and owner of Runk & Pratt, said.
Golf courses in the Roanoke region and across the county have struggled financially. In Buena Vista, the city defaulted on bond payments used to finance what turned out to be an underperforming municipal golf course and is now being sued by the insurer of the bonds, the Times reported.
The Pulaski Country Club was sold at a foreclose auction in May, and The Meadows Golf and Swim Club in Montgomery County is expected to go up for sale later this year. In the immediate Roanoke area, all three of the full-service private country clubs have reported declining memberships, the Times reported.
But Runk & Pratt officials are depending on the diversity of their business to make the Ashley Plantation course viable. “It’s far more than just about golf for us,” Runk said. “As a company, our core business is senior living. When you tie the golf to it on the hospitality side, they will fit together.”
Runk & Pratt also owns the Ivy Hill Golf Club in Forest, Va., and The Willows at Runk & Pratt in Hurt, Va. Members of Ashley Plantation will have access to those courses, the Times reported.
Since taking over the Ashley Plantation Country Club a year ago, the Bank of Fincastle has contracted with a management company to operate the 295-acre property, the Times reported.
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