(Photo by Joe Hotchkiss/The Augusta Chronicle)

The Rees Jones-designed golf course at the Evans, Ga. property outside of Augusta suspended operations in 2018 because of “delays and uncertainties” related to a lawsuit that investors in Jones Creek Investment (JCI) had filed against Columbia County, Ga., after flooding and course damage was caused by what the plaintiffs said was excessive sedimentation that the county was responsible for. A ruling was then issued in favor of the county, a state lawsuit was dropped and JCI defaulted on a $4 million load agreement with its primary financier.

A defunct golf course in the Augusta, Ga. area is going on the auction block more than two years after closing while embroiled in lawsuits, The Augusta Chronicle reported.

The property of the former Jones Creek Golf Club in Evans, Ga. (Columbia County) will be sold “at public outcry” on October 6, according to a legal notice in the September 3rd edition of The Columbia County News-Times, The Chronicle reported.

The parcels of land that comprise the approximately 195-acre course are being put up for sale after the owner of the property, Jones Creek Investment LLC (JCI), defaulted on a $4 million loan agreement with Julian Saul, a minority partner in JCI and its primary financier, The Chronicle reported.

The former clubhouse for the course was purchased on October 2019 by MBH Holdings, a limited liability company operated by Columbia County developer Mark Herbert, The Chronicle reported. Herbert told The Chronicle that the clubhouse is not part of the sale, and that he leases the building to Katerwerks Events and Hospitality.

The property’s 18-hole golf course of nearly 7,000 yards, designed by Rees Jones, is nestled among hundreds of upscale homes, whose residents have expressed concern about the course’s future, The Chronicle reported.

The golf club opened in December 1985, costing $3.5 million to build, The Chronicle reported. It was not named for the course’s architect but for the creek’s namesake, William Jones, who bought large tracts of land in 1856 where the course sits today.

JCI bought the property in 2008, The Chronicle reported. Flooding and course damage at the club then prompted investors to file a lawsuit against Columbia County in 2011, contending that the club’s Willow Lake and waterways downstream had been damaged by excessive sedimentation. The county denied liability in the case.

The golf club announced in September 2018 that it would suspend operations indefinitely, The Chronicle reported, “driven by the delay and uncertainty of the ongoing litigation against Columbia County,” according to a letter sent to club members and signed by club General Manager Ray Mundy.

A 2018 ruling in a federal lawsuit favored the county. Months later, JCI agreed to drop its state lawsuit, The Chronicle reported.

The neighborhood’s pool and tennis courts next to the course are owned by the Jones Creek Homeowners Association. They have remained in use while the course has sat untended, The Chronicle reported.

Saul had been looking for a buyer for the property and had talked with Columbia County officials last year about other options for the land’s future, The Chronicle reported.

One of the ideas—to redevelop the course into a new residential neighborhood within Jones Creek—was dismissed as impractical. Columbia County Administrator Scott Johnson said at the time that such a change would require an amendment to Jones Creek’s planned unit development that most of the neighborhood’s residents would likely oppose.