The Turkey Creek Master Owners Association closed on the purchase of the Alachua, Fla., club on December 28, which has been closed since 2011. The new owners are reaching out to management companies to submit bids to operate the golf course, and volunteers have been cleaning up the facilities.
Turkey Creek Golf and Country Club homeowners are now the proud owners of the community’s golf club in Alachua, Fla., and are reaching out to management companies to submit bids to lease and run the golf course that has been closed since 2011, as well as the clubhouse, pool and tennis courts, the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun reported.
C&RB reported on members’ plans to purchase the club in August 2014.
The Turkey Creek Master Owners Association closed on the purchase December 28 and on that day sent letters to about 15 companies that had previously expressed an interest in bidding on the lease out of 25 that had been contacted, the Sun reported.
The ideal situation would be for one company to take over the entire operation, but the association is open to splitting up the component parts, said committee chairman Robert Wilford, who is also an Alachua city commissioner. Two potential bidders want to bid on just food service in the clubhouse that once housed Mulligan’s restaurant, Wilford said.
The association is holding a mandatory pre-bid conference on January 21 and proposals are due February 9, after which a selection committee will pick the top three and a negotiating committee will rank those, the Sun reported.
“At that point we will try to establish a contract and hopefully have it in place April 1,” Wilford said.
Volunteers have already been cleaning up the facilities, and the association is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony with clubhouse tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. January 16. After several failed efforts to reopen the club, homeowners voted in October to buy the club and assess themselves $1.20 per $1,000 of taxable property value, to pay back a $2 million loan over 15 years. The $2 million includes $1.35 million to buy the club from Wallace Cain and $650,000 in renovations, the Sun reported.
The vote topped the 75% threshold mandated under state homeowner association laws. A recount conducted by an accounting firm as a result of a homeowner challenge showed the vote 882 for and 76 against for a 92% margin, the Sun reported.
The club closed in 2011 as a result of declining course conditions and declining business and has been blamed in part on a drop in property values in the community, the Sun reported.
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