As promised here a week ago, I have asked a few real estate brokers in golf course communities if there were any local reactions to people adding solar panels and other environmentally friendly architectural elements to their homes. The question was prompted by a recent Wall Street Journal article which indicated the addition of solar panels was pitting neighbor against neighbor in some communities.
Only at Cedar Creek in Aiken, SC, a nicely treed and friendly community with a semi-private and very reasonably priced Arthur Hills golf course, is there any official acknowledgement that homeowners might want to tinker with the look of their homes in order to conserve energy. Cedar Creek's architectural guidelines permit the use of solar panels on the roofs of its homes, and the Cedar Creek homeowner's association is considering developing "green" policies for future construction.
The half dozen other communities I surveyed either indicated no one had yet built green or had even inquired about it. Somewhere, Al Gore is weeping, but we expect to see more and more solar panels as the price of going green comes down, and the price of energy continues to rise.
We reported some weeks ago that an 18 hole established golf course and the surrounding 630 acres were up for auction. The Highlands, in Franklin, West Virginia sold for $4,600,000 on July 17 to a group from The Woodlands in Texas. Six bidders registered. The price seems quite fair -- easy for us to say, since we can't afford the price -- given what it costs to build a golf course these days.
If you are saying, well shucks, I could have bought it for $4.6 million, you have other opportunities. For example, Cooper's Creek Golf Club and its adjacent 429 acres are available, according to an ad in today's New York Times, for $4,185,000. Cooper's Creek is located close to Interstate 20 about halfway between Columbia, SC, and Augusta, GA, a nice part of South Carolina. The par 72 course plays to 6,600 yards at the tips and a rating of 71.0 and slope of 131. The architect is listed as R. Chase; we can't say we ever heard of him, but add $1 million to your payment for Cooper's Creek and you can put the name R. Jones or T. Fazio on your course.
We hope to make a detour on our trip north in early August and play Cooper's Creek. If so, look for further observations here.
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March 2024
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