The Beach Grove Golf Club is looking to sell a small strip of surplus land in order to solidify its financial future.
The private club put out a request for proposals earlier this month seeking qualified developers to purchase approximately 53,000 square feet of land (1.1 acres) at the corner of 16th Avenue and Gillespie Road.
Beach Grove general manager Richard Creally said the land sale and subsequent development would allow the club to pay off its entire long-term debt of $4.1 million, complete some capital improvements as well as set aside money for future work.
“As a club, while we are making money on operations and continuing to make our payments on our mortgage, we are not improving as much as we’d like to. We know there are things we need to replace and fix and we can’t do that with our long-term debt,” he said.
“With the value of land in this area, we looked at a number of options as to how to set aside the long-term debt and at the end of the day the sale of the parcel of land on hole No. 12 was the one that seemed to be the best fit for us.”
Creally said if all goes as planned, the 12th tee box would be moved slightly to the south and the 11th green would be moved.
“We are not losing overall yardage on the golf course,” he said.
The club’s preference is to see 10 single-family lots created on the treed parcel fronting 16th Avenue, but according to the request for proposals, the developer will be required to have the land subdivided, rezoned, serviced and developed with residential dwellings of a type acceptable to Delta. Beach Grove intends to conclude the sale only after the developer receives conditional approval from the Corporation of Delta.
“It was an interesting process to go through with the membership,” he said. “Unless you sit on a committee or the board, sometimes you don’t have visibility into the real financial picture of the club, so what we had to do is get our members up to speed on where we were at as a club. We made money on food and beverage last year, which is unheard of for a private club. We’ve made money on operations three years in a row. We’ve added 183 new members and affiliates already this year, which is fantastic. It’s just our long-term debt issue that is holding us back.
“The first vote failed due to what I believe was a lack of the financial picture, so the board, to its credit, through a number of focus groups, explained the situation to the members, listened to their ideas when presented, had a second vote and 94 per cent of the members voted in favour of the sale of the land.”
Besides keeping their members informed, Creally personally visited all neighbouring properties to explain the process.
“So far there has been no negative push back, but do I think there will be issues? Sure,” he said. “Some are reluctant to change, but if the sale is something that will allow us to be around for another 80 years, then it’s a positive change.
“It’s a fun thing to go through. You have to re-invest. If you are not investing in the club, then your services decline. If we don’t grow the club and grow the membership, we can’t sustain ourselves to make the club better.”
