The owner of the Grand Rapids, Mich., property has a purchase agreement with Third Coast Development, which plans to build housing on the land. A spokesman for the developer said plans are still in flux and the golf course will continue to operate through the year.
The Highlands Golf Club in Grand Rapids, Mich., which hosted some of the sport’s icons including Arnold Palmer, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Nancy Lopez, is being sold for housing, according to the Elks Lodge that meets on the property, Michigan Live reported.
The course’s owner has a purchase agreement with Third Coast Development, which plans to build housing on the property, Scott A. Smith wrote in a newsletter to Elks members, Live reported.
“The sad news is that the golf course we have called our own for so long will be converted to residential housing,” Smith wrote. “It is an unfortunate reality that golf courses are difficult to make profitable, as we have experienced before.”
The Highlands for eight years in the late 1980s and early 1990s hosted a Senior PGA Tour event in which some of the sport’s biggest stars participated. Originally known as the Greater Grand Rapids Open, the tournament later moved to Egypt Valley Country Club and continued through 2004, Live reported.
The 108-year-old course designed by Donald Ross was owned by The Elks until 2011 when it was sold to Steve Scheuerman. Scheuerman was not immediately available to comment to Michigan Live on the sale.
A principal with Third Coast deferred comment to a spokesman, who said plans are still in flux. The development company confirmed that a purchase agreement is in place. The golf course will continue to operate through the year as Third Coast explores development possibilities, the company said in a prepared statement.
Third Coast has been one of the most active developers along Grand Rapids’ Medical Mile, Live reported.
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