The 120-year-old club that is Tennessee’s oldest golf club was briefly closed in August amid confusion over who was responsible for managing it through a 10-year lease. Integrity Golf, the Orlando, Fla.-based management firm, is named in the suit, despite its contention that it had conveyed all of its interests in the club to an independent company five months earlier.
The owners of the Country Club of Bristol (Tenn.) have filed a $1.75 million lawsuit against named defendants that include Integrity Golf, the management company that the owners contend was involved with abandonment of a 10-year agreement to lease and manage the club, the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier reported.
In August, C&RB reported on the dispute between the owners and the management firm and other entities that led to a brief closure of the 120-year-old club that is Tennessee’s oldest golf club, according to the Herald-Courier.
C&RB’s reports from August can be found here:
http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2016/08/04/integrity-golf-disputes-cc-bristol-tenn-report/
http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2016/08/03/cc-bristol-tenn-briefly-closes-reopens/
The lawsuit was filed on October 4 in Sullivan County (Tenn.) Law Court by the club’s owners, Bristol Preservation, LLC, against IGC-Bristol Country Club, LLC, Integrity Golf Company, LLC, and Knight 39 Holdings, the Herald Courier reported.
“While regrettable, this filing became necessary due to events and actions over which Bristol Preservation, LLC had no control,” Mitch Walters, manager of Bristol Preservation, said in a written statement, the Herald Courier reported. “We do not expect to make any further comments about the lawsuit at the present time.
“The good news is that the Country Club of Bristol remains open under new management, and Bristol Preservation LLC remains committed to preserving our beautiful championship golf course and all of the amenities that the club offers our community for years to come,” Walters’ statement added.
According to the suit, IGC-Bristol Country Club LLC and/or Knight 39 Holdings abandoned the country club, and collected dues, membership fees and deposits for events that were to happen after operations ceased, the Herald Courier reported. The complaint also says that the companies failed to pay its vendors in full, and owes rent to Bristol Preservation.
In July 2015, Bristol Preservation, owned by local businessmen Walters and Roscoe Bowman, signed a 10-year lease with Integrity Golf Company, which is based in Orlando, Fla. and operates 32 golf courses throughout the U.S. to oversee operations for the 18-hole course, the Herald Courier reported.
Integrity Golf Company sold IGC-Bristol Country Club, the club’s tenant, to Knight 39 Holdings in March 2015, according to records provided by an Integrity Golf lawyer, the Herald Courier reported. Florida records list William J. Davis II as the principal with Knight 39; Davis was identified as the chairman of Integrity Golf in a company news release announcing the Bristol lease arrangement, the Herald Courier reported.
Calls to the attorneys of Integrity Golf and IGC-Bristol Country Club for comment about the lawsuit were not returned, the Herald Courier reported.
After the club’s closing in August was reported, Integrity Golf issued a statement that contended it had conveyed all of its interests in the club’s operation to ICG-Bristol Country Club LLC as an “independent company,” and that it no longer had any involvement with or responsibility to the club.
The Country Club of Bristol was on the brink of closing around 2005, the Herald Courier reported, when membership drastically declined and the remaining members struggled to make payments on the club’s debt. Interstate Realty then bought the club in late 2005 in an effort to revive it. Trupoint Bank then obtained the property about four years later and managed the course until Bristol Preservation purchased it, the Herald Courier reported.
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