The slow resurrection of the exclusive Williamsburg, Mich. property, which closed in 2008 and then re-opened to the public in 2011, could be accelerated through the upscale on-course “statement” cottages, which are expected to be available for rental by the 2019 summer season.
LochenHeath Golf Club—the exclusive waterfront golf development on the shores of East Grand Traverse Bay in Williamsburg, Mich.– could soon become a private golf club again, the Traverse City Business News reported.
Owners have greenlit construction of upscale “statement” cottages on the course, which could be a key step in attracting outside members and returning the club to its original luster, the Business News reported. Construction of two of the planned seven cottages is underway; they should be open and available for rental by visiting golfers for the 2019 summer season. The two initial cottages are expected to cost $1.8 million to build.
In the years since its 2001 inception on former farmland, LochenHeath has experienced the loftiest of highs and some pretty deep lows, the Business News reported. In 2004, Arizona-based Pinnacle Development Group trumpeted “one of the upper Midwest’s finest private residential and golf communities,” with plans to develop 600 acres into a private community with up to 400 home sites, some for as much as $2 million each.
Wining and dining prospective buyers from around the world, Pinnacle had the pedigree, having developed Estancia and Seven Canyons, two acclaimed private golf clubs in Arizona. LochenHeath seemed destined for greatness, eventually landing on “best of” lists from the likes of Golfweek and GOLF magazines for its Steve Smyers-designed links-style golf course, the Business News reported.
But then 2008 happened. Too many golf courses, a freefall in real estate prices, and an economic collapse eventually led to Pinnacle defaulting on $120 million in loans and losing LochenHeath to the bank in foreclosure, the Business News reported. The course was shuttered and employees were laid off, leaving the greens and fairways to go fallow. Homeowners who had built multimillion-dollar homes on the property were left to wonder about the future.
By the end of 2010, 12 of those homeowners had banded together to negotiate with the bank and eventually purchase the golf club as a homeowners association (HOA), separating it from the remainder of the undeveloped property, the Business News reported. Those were dark days, said Al Ruggirello, an original homeowner and the president of the HOA board.
“I remember in November 2010 walking out on the course,” he recalled. “The weeds were overgrown, the fairway grass was 15 inches of mud. Really. It certainly was a low point, and we were that close to losing it.”
Homeowners pitched in not only their money, but also their labor, the Business News reported. That winter, they met on the course, shoveling and weeding and working to save what had been, and perhaps could be again, a great golf course.
The owners knew they’d have to open the course to the public to make it viable in the short-term, but that “the owners’ vision was always to become a private club [again],” Ruggiero told the Business News.
In 2013, the club hired Kevin O’Brien as General Manager. O’Brien had a track record in the world of golf operations, having brought three separate clubs to national prominence over a 25-year career, the Business News reported.
“I came on in 2013 to transition back to private,” O’Brien said. “We figured a seven-year plan, and 2018 is year six. We’ve been building brand, and now Golf Digest has validated our property [LochenHeath has been named a ‘Best in State’ course].”
In 2016, the Australia-based Drapac Group purchased the remaining non-golf property at LochenHeath, the Business News reported.
Ultimately O’Brien envisions a membership mix of roughly 70 percent resident members living on site, and 30 percent national members who live elsewhere but maintain rights to golf when they come to town. National members will pay $1,600 annually, while resident members pay $3,300; all members must pony up a non-refundable membership deposit of from $6,000 to $14,000, the Business News reported.
There are 90 members today, and Ruggirello said adding new ones is the top priority.
“Everything we do, we ask if we are doing it toward our main goal: membership,” he said. “But to sell national memberships, you need lodging on-site. Often the players will bring their associates or friends to stay for a weekend for a full golfing and lodging and dining experience.”
And so the cottages represent the next step in LochenHeath’s evolution, the Business News reported.
“The concept is high-end cottages,” said Ruggirello. “Because we’re golfers, we know what people like to have: a comfortable setting, a good shower, a nice place to watch TV or play games, a beautiful kitchen, en suite bathrooms, all connected for larger groups.”
Each cottage will be 2,500 square feet with four bedrooms, two of which will have lockouts for individual rentals.
“They will complement what we have here in terms of the whole development, but we want these to be a statement when you pull into LochenHeath,” said Ruggirello.
Each cottage will be Shaker-style with metal roofs, complemented with stone work and carriage lights to mirror some of the existing LochenHeath buildings, the Business News reported.
Shane Inman, who has been retained as the interior designer for the project, said the cottages need to be welcoming, but still feel like they belong in LochenHeath.
“They’ll be decked out, beautiful, with some custom furniture. They’ll have 21st Century floor plans, but will be timeless and classic,” Inman said.
So beyond the cottages, what’s next for LochenHeath? Expect the transition to a private club to continue, the Business News reported. O’Brien says fewer rounds of public golf have been made available each summer, and that trend will continue in 2019 and until eventually the course is private
Also expect more growth, according to Ruggirello, who when asked about his vision for what LochenHeath might be in 2025 outlined several key points:
“Private. The best views of the bay. By then hopefully a new clubhouse, with lodging or workout facilities above or parking underground,” he told the Business News.
With respect to its past, Ruggirello added, there are “good things” to come.
“You know, LochenHeath got a bad rap for a long time, and the previous owners hurt a lot of people,” he said. “But there’s been a lot of good things happening here, too, with much more to come.”