Chris Smith purchased the 89-acre course and driving range in Slidell, La., for $850,000, and Luis Ochoa paid $300,000 for the ballroom, restaurant, bar, pool and tennis courts. Ochoa, who already had a lease agreement to operate the restaurant, bar and clubhouse, plans to invest $1.2 million, including adding a 6,000-sq. ft. events facility called “Sadie Jane.”
Nine months after they first made their pitches to purchase portions of Pinewood Country Club in Slidell, La., Chris Smith and Luis Ochoa sealed their deals on December 18, the New Orleans Advocate reported.
The pair, each with his own legal adviser in tow, met with Pinewood Country Club Inc. representatives at a Citizens Bank & Trust location near Covington to finalize the deal. The sale is expected to pump new capital into the 50-plus-year-old golf course and club that has had financial struggles in recent years, the Advocate reported.
Smith and his Pinewood Golf Course Holding Co. LLC purchased the 89-acre course and driving range for $850,000 in cash. Another company, Chris and Ted Golf Operating Co. LLC, will finance ongoing course operations. That company, which is being supported by investors, is named for Smith and Pinewood golf professional Ted Elliot, the Advocate reported.
Ochoa paid $300,000 to PCC Inc. for the club’s ballroom, restaurant, bar, pool and tennis courts. Ochoa, who already had a lease agreement with club shareholders for three years to operate the club’s restaurant, bar and clubhouse, plans to sink a total of $1.2 million into the property, the Advocate reported.
That includes purchase and renovations of the existing facility, as well as construction of a 6,000-sq. ft. events facility called the “Sadie Jane,” which he envisions as a space for parties, weddings and more, the Advocate reported.
Ochoa plans to market the space to the entire New Orleans and Gulf Coast areas. Construction is scheduled to begin shortly after the new year and be complete by May. The space will be located where the golf course’s No. 10 tee box currently sits, so that tee box will be relocated, the Advocate reported.
Smith, who grew up playing golf at Pinewood, plans continuing upgrades to the course, though he acknowledged it may take a full growing season for landscaping efforts to take hold. Scott King, a longtime supporter of the club, has been hired as superintendent and will help oversee renovations, the Advocate reported.
Monday’s sale capped a long period of hand-wringing by Pinewood stockholders. After the club suffered financial hardships (especially in the years following Hurricane Katrina), stockholders approached the city of Slidell about purchasing the course. The city balked at first, but eventually decided to buy 86 acres of the property in north Slidell and convert it into detention ponds, the Advocate reported.
A month later, Smith stepped forward with his proposal to buy the property and maintain it as a golf course. Stockholders chose his offer over that of the city and moved forward with the sale to Smith, the Advocate reported.
The process took much longer than stockholders expected. After going through city planning and zoning procedures, the sale was further delayed by a lack of easements to Smith’s portion of the property. The deal was reworked to give Smith two 60-foot easements on either side of the existing clubhouse to provide right of way, the Advocate reported.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.