Super Bowl coach may have eye on SC real estate auction

By all accounts, Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt has done a masterful job of guiding a mediocre team through the National Football League playoffs and into the Super Bowl on February 1. However, as he prepares his team for the big game, he might be a little distracted by an investment he made a couple of years ago in a golf community.
Coach Whisenhunt has an unspecified, but likely financial, interest in the North Augusta Golf and Country

A few days after purchase, the clubhouse burned down.

Club in South Carolina, which goes on the auction block at 11 a.m. Eastern on January 29 (as previously reported here). A native of Augusta, GA, just across the border from the golf course, Whisenhunt is in partnership with the club's owner. Talk about bad luck -- a few days after the new owner took over the club in 2007, a fire destroyed the clubhouse. (No, state investigators did not find anything suspicious.) Although the course reopened with temporary facilities just a few days after the fire, the new owner has not been able to stem the tide of members fleeing to other clubs. He also never delivered on the promise of a rebuilt clubhouse, despite a groundbreaking ceremony (detailed plans for the clubhouse will be included in the property's sale).
   By all accounts, the North Augusta course, which was designed by Les Hills, is a pleasant track; first opened in 1962 and was renovated just three years ago. Its proximity to Augusta National probably guarantees that, at least for a week each year, its facilities are fully used. Of course, the economies of golf course operation demand more consistent annual traffic or a robust membership. North Augusta apparently has not had enough of either.
   The firm of Myrtle Beach based J P. King is handling the auction on-site at the club. Also up for auction is an adjacent parcel of 35.5 acres located across a lake from the golf course, called The Pinery. The Pinery has been pre-approved for 102 residential town homes.
   This will be a "confirmation" sale, which a J P. King official told me means that the owner does not necessarily have to accept the final bid. She also told me that the club has 350 members, down from a high of 800. She would not comment on any expected sale price.

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Wednesday, 21 January 2009 07:20

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