When Jeff Fischer closed the Sanctuary Club, he cited a decline in play, competition from nearby courses and extreme weather in recent years for the club’s struggles. Now facing pressure from investors and collectors, he hopes to sell the property before it’s foreclosed. One interested party thinks the property could work as a semi-private, family-oriented country club.
The Sanctuary Club, a golf course in the Lady’s Island community of Cat Island in Beaufort, S.C., shows the neglect from being closed for months, The Beaufort Gazette reported. Weeds grow throughout the fairways and greens and dot the driving range adjacent to the club’s shuttered swimming pool.
Owner Jeff Fischer, who also owns Lady’s Island Country Club on the north end of Lady’s Island, closed the Sanctuary Club abruptly in January 2019 and said at the time that the course was for sale while he consolidated operations to his other club, The Gazette reported. Now the club’s creditors are moving to foreclose on the property and collect money owed from the sale of the club, Beaufort County court records show.
Grant Golf LLC filed foreclosure papers in April, saying Fischer and his Cat Island Investors Inc. owe $191,340.35 as part of a $300,000 mortgage agreement in 2016, court records show.
Cat Island Investors, of which Fischer is President, and Lady’s Island LLC, of which he is a managing member, also owe International Golf Maintenance $375,000 as part of a settlement related to contracted work for the upkeep of the golf courses, according to court records.
Grant Golf has asked a Beaufort County judge to direct the course’s sale and that the proceeds be applied to the debts, The Gazette reported. Fischer did not respond in the court to the complaint within 30 days, and Grant Golf filed an affidavit of default May 23.
On May 29, Fischer said he still plans to sell the course before it’s foreclosed and has two serious potential buyers, The Gazette reported.
“It certainly has value exceeding the amount of the foreclosures,” he said. “It’s in my best interest to sell it before the foreclosure sale happens.”
In January, Fischer cited a decline in play, competition from the golf course on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and extreme weather in recent years for the course’s struggles, The Gazette reported. The loan agreement with Grant Golf was renegotiated to defer payments in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in 2016, court documents show.
A Chinese investment group was interested last year in buying the course and establishing a golf school on the property, but the deal didn’t work out, The Gazette reported. Fischer said he also offered to sell the course to Cat Island property owners and reiterated at the end of May that they are still welcome to make a deal.
Another pair of potential investors are still interested in buying the course and are following the court proceedings, The Gazette reported.
Beaufort real estate agent Willie Mack Stansell and his partner Alan Ballew, with OBCC LLC, think a family-style country club with memberships and that is also open to the public can work under the right management, The Gazette reported. The partners have plans to rebrand the course if they are able to buy it, Stansell said, but he declined to offer specific on those plans.
With tennis courts, a swimming pool and exercise facility, Stansell said he feels the club could still succeed and offer something different from the area’s other options, The Gazette reported. Golfers also have the Legends Golf Course at Parris Island, the Golf Club at Pleasant Point and Lady’s Island Country Club as public options in northern Beaufort County.
“I still think there’s a vibrant market for Cat Island to be successful,” Stansell told The Gazette.
A potential deal now hinges on the willingness of the buyer to invest money needed to bring the course back from its current shape, The Gazette reported. Fischer said he believes it’s possible.
“I’ve purchased places that are in a lot worse shape than that and have reconditioned them and put them back in fine working order,” he told The Gazette.
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