Minnetonka Country Club in Excelsior, Minn., KateHaven Golf Course in Circle Pines, Minn., and Great Southwest Golf Club in Grand Prairie, Texas are all closing in favor of residential developments and commercial uses.
KateHaven Golf Course, a nine-hole site in Circle Pines, Minn., is being transformed into Weston Woods at Rice Creek, 70 luxury townhouses nestled around three ponds and a tributary of Rice Creek. It’s one of seven golf courses in the Twin Cities—and 18 across the state—that have closed and, in some cases, been redeveloped, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
To the west, developer Mattamy Homes is seeking to turn the shuttered 117-acre Minnetonka Country Club in Excelsior into a 121-home subdivision. Similar projects are underway in Orono, Minnetrista, Eagan and Plymouth. Some golf course conversions have faced opposition, the Star Tribune reported.
Mark Smith, owner of Mark of Excellence development, said most neighbors of Weston Woods have been accepting of the project — with the caveat that roads in the area be improved, the Star Tribune reported.
“The city would have allowed us to go as high as 120 units,” Smith said. “We are a lot lower density than was allowed. We wanted to keep the creek area as natural as possible and not pack the place.”
In the west metro, Mattamy Homes presented preliminary concept plans for the high-end homes to Shorewood’s Planning Commission—the first public step in the lengthy process for the project.
Minnetonka Country Club, which opened in 1916 and survived two clubhouse fires over its 98 years, boasted being one of the oldest continuously active golf courses in Minnesota. But in October, owner Bill Witrak abruptly announced its closing, citing increased costs of keeping up the clubhouse facilities and golf course upgrades in light of decreasing revenue, the Star Tribune reported.
C&RB reported on the closure in December (“Housing Development Planned for Minnetonka CC“).
“Initially, it was a huge surprise,” Minnetonka Planning Director Brad Nielsen said of the club sale. “I don’t imagine we’re going to have anything of this size [again].”
The club closed December 31. According to the Minnesota Golf Association, it’s one of 18 golf courses in the state to close since the last one opened in the Twin Cities in 2006, the Star Tribune reported.
Last year, the 18-hole Lakeview Golf Course in Orono closed, and 46 homes are expected to be built on the site. Nearby, 61 homes are under construction at the former nine-hole Red Oak Golf Course in Minnetrista. And 156 homes are expected on Plymouth’s 18-hole Elm Creek Golf Course after it closed, the Star Tribune reported.
In Shorewood, the golf course had hosted golfers, weddings, other events and golf teams like Minnetonka High School’s, which used the course for matches and practices and will need to find a new place by spring. The closing has sparked opposition and disappointment from nearby residents and longtime club members, who tried to find a way to save the country club, the Star Tribune reported.
After 50 years, Great Southwest Golf Club in Grand Prairie, Texas is closing after being sold for redevelopment, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Dallas-based developer Steven Bradford of Ascendant Commercial, LLP, submitted a site plan for the 163-acre property on December 16. The plan will need city council approval. Because the golf operation is separate from the land ownership, members found out weeks after the fact, the Morning News reported.
The future is not yet clear for thousands of trees, including stately oaks and pecans, that line the golf course. The city offers incentives to preserve trees, but does not mandate saving or replacing them, the Morning News reported.
“There are definitely concerns from the city and from the residents in the neighborhood,” said Council member Jorja Clemson, who represents the area.
While many course closures link to a struggling golf economy, Great Southwest may instead be falling victim to a bustling non-golf economy. Though it has lost members since its heyday, the private club still boasts an active roll of about 300. Instead, the club died because its land is more valuable as something other than a golf course. Great Southwest is in a light industrial region already groomed for commercial/warehouse uses. It’s also near three freeways, the Morning News reported.
Permitted uses include warehousing, distribution, light manufacturing, retail sales and services, auto sales, minor auto repair and offices. Real estate agent Candace Rubin, who is working a different redevelopment site along Great Southwest Parkway, said the sales price could be eight times the land’s current taxable value. Fully developed, it could be worth 20 times more on the tax rolls, the Morning News reported.
The course offers transitional greenspace between industry that lines Interstate 30 and various residential, office and commercial properties. More than one of its neighboring apartment complexes boasts, for the time being, “Golf Course Views,” the Morning News reported.
Grand Prairie leaders opposed tree mitigation laws while former Mayor Charles England was in office from 1992 to 2013. Most cities have those laws to require replacement of trees destroyed by development or to have developers pay for trees elsewhere in a city, the Morning News reported.
“It’s just sad,” England said. “This is probably the most untouched beautiful green area left in Grand Prairie.”
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