Newspaper publisher and resort operator Doug Manchester will join the golf professional in buying the three-course club in Santa Fe, Calif. from its 400 members, if approval is secured at September 9th’s annual meeting.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Fairbanks Ranch Country Club (FRCC) in Santa Fe, Calif., is set to be sold by its roughly 400 members to golf legend Phil Mickelson and “Papa” Doug Manchester, Publisher of the Union-Tribune and Founder and Chairman of Manchester Financial Group, which built The Grand Del Mar resort in San Diego (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2012/12/15/grand-design/).
Mike Kendall, President of the Board, told the club’s members on August 28 that Manchester and Mickelson had signed a letter of intent to purchase Fairbanks Ranch and that details would be shared at the club’s annual meeting on September 9, the Union-Tribune reported. The members will have to approve the sale, it was noted.
“We are excited to have two such prominent community leaders and successful club owners partner to make the ongoing investment in facilities, programming and execution necessary for FRCC to maintain its position as one of the premier country clubs in San Diego on a long-term, sustainable basis,” Kendall said in an e-mail to members.
The terms and conditions were not disclosed, but Manchester said in an e-mail that “Phil and I look forward to making Fairbanks the best that it can be,” the Union-Tribune reported.
The club includes three golf courses, tennis courts and a clubhouse on 377 acres and operates under a 61-year lease with the city of San Diego that is due to expire in 2044, the Union-Tribune reported. It was the site of equestrian events when the 1984 Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles,
Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office said the club made $922,561 in lease payments last year, and $442,170 so far this year, the Union-Tribune reported.
Club Manager Steve Wittert did not return calls to discuss the deal or the state of the club, the Union-Tribune reported.
But a former President of FRCC’s Board, Louis Ferrero, said the Manchester-Mickelson bid came out of an earlier proposal to sell to ClubCorp, the Union-Tribune reported. The Dallas-based management firm operates three properties in the San Diego area: the University Club downtown, Morgan Run Club & Resort in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. and the Shadowridge Golf Club in Vista, Calif.
While ClubCorp offered top management credentials, Manchester offered a more ambitious improvement plan and a link to his Grand Del Mar property, Ferrero told the Union-Tribune.
“It’s a very ‘rich’ proposal,” Ferrero said. “He likes to do everything world-class. He’s got a plan—he’s going to do it right.”
Ferrero, who was not involved in negotiations, told the Union-Tribune that two swimming pools and a full-scale health club are expected to be built under FRCC’s new ownership and the tennis and golf facilities will be upgraded, all with the hope of attracting families and younger people to join.
By selling the club, the members will escape having to pay special assessments that at one time were estimated to cost $8,500 each, according to a slideshow presentation on the club website.
Current dues stand at $1,234 per month for golf members and $410 for social members, the Union-Tribune reported, but the club’s membership office said dues are likely to drop under new ownership, while the initiation fees may rise from the present $18,000 for golfers and $2,740 for others.
Jeff Woolson, a commercial broker who worked on the sale, told the Union-Tribune that besides ClubCorp, Manchester and Mickelson, other buyer groups showed “tremendous interest” in Fairbanks Ranch.
The club property was once part of a larger 789-acre parcel of land in the San Dieguito River Valley owned by housing developer Ray Watt. In 1981, Watt won approval to build 341 homes in exchange for donating 615 acres to the city, the Union-Tribune reported. Watt then leased back the golf course site back from the city and predicted the city would earn more than $1 billion over the life of the lease.
Census figures from 2010 show that the community is home to 1,037 residents with a median household income of $172,700, the Union-Tribune reported.
The use of Fairbanks Ranch during the 1984 Olympics served as a built-in marketing tool to sell homes and attract golf club members, the Union-Tribune reported. Britain’s Prince Philip even inspected the site and proclaimed the soil “perfect for horses.”
Since the Olympics, the club and various investors have offered to buy the property back from the city, the Union-Tribune reported. In 1996, then-City Manager Jack McGrory recommended the city take $4 million for the property, at a time when underwriting the cost of hosting the Republican national convention in San Diego was getting costly.
Five years later, the club offered to pay $14 million for the land, the Union-Tribune reported, but the city declined when the club wanted the city to carry back $10.5 million of the debt. The club then asked for a 30-year lease extension, but discussions went no further when the city said the rent would have be renegotiated.
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