Owner wants to keep course, add housing
Arizona company repurposing golf facilities in urban areas
The Germantown Country Club will be sold to an Arizona company that intends to keep it partially as a golf course, Millennium Companies said Monday morning.
In a news release, the Scottsdale-based firm dedicated to repurposing golf facilities in urban areas said it hopes to “maintain the character and tradition of the property” for future golfers and Germantown residents. The company also hopes to build housing on the almost 180-acre property, including single-family homes and condominiums.
Millennium Companies CEO Bob Hobbs Jr. said the proposed development would be called “Anderson Park” out of respect for the longtime club owners.
“Our intent is to maintain the spirit and memories of Germantown Country Club, which was
known for its gentle slopes and mature trees,” he said in a release.
Millennium Companies said Monday it had executed a letter of intent with the trustee representing the Anderson family.
The City of Germantown attempted to purchase the golf club to use as a public park but announced in June that its bid had been denied. The city bid $2.49 million for the property.
In an interview, Hobbs declined to reveal the company’s bid, saying they had agreed to a confidentiality agreement with the trustee but said the total investment his company planned to make in Germantown was “significant.” He did say he believes his company’s concept for the land will be a benefit to the city.
“One, the alternative is there’s just a sea of houses there. The other alternative is no one buys it, and it just sits there empty,” he said. “The amenities are not just for the homeowners that live at the new course. And it will create taxable revenues for the city.”
Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo said the release from Millennium Companies was “interesting,” but that it was too early to make any judgments about what the company was proposing since no applications had been submitted to the city. Hobbs said the company would work to get plans submitted in the next 90 days.
The mayor said he had been in contact with residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the course since the club ownership announced it would be closing earlier this year and said they would “have an intense amount of interest” in any development of the property. However, he said based on the feedback he had heard from residents, he thought parts of Millennium Companies’ proposal would go over well.
“Those neighbors are very excited that some form of a park could be there,” he said.
Millennium Companies said the future golf facility would include a ninehole course, with holes ranging from 100 to 200 yards, as well as an 18-hole putting course near the clubhouse.
The company said it plans to hold meetings with Germantown residents to give them an opportunity to see plans for the facility and “provide opportunities for creative dialogue.” Hobbs said he expected the concept for the land to evolve after meetings with residents and aldermen.
“We’re ready to roll. We’d love to get started,” he said in an interview. “But we feel very strongly about getting neighborhood input.”
Residential component
Bob Dalhoff, co-owner of Memphisbased Dalhoff Thomas Design Studio, which has consulted on the plans, said the property is centered around the golf facility and a “village center,” which will include the renovated clubhouse.
“This Village Center will provide pedestrian-oriented uses such as restaurants, ice cream and candy shops, boutiques and other related services. This not only supports the golf play, but also the surrounding community by providing an attractive neighborhood-scale destination,” he said.
The proposed residential units will fan out around the “village center,” and the golf area and will be planned to blend with the neighborhoods surrounding the property. A buffer area will insulate the property from surrounding neighborhoods and a portion of the old golf club will be made into a nature park, though the company did not specify how many acres would be dedicated to parkland.
In the press release, the company said it wanted to build different styles of housing, including single-family homes on large and small lots and “townhome lofts,” which it described as condos.
Palazzolo said some of the proposed uses would require a zoning change, something he has publicly said he would not support. However, he cautioned that these plans were preliminary and had been set out in a press release, not in planning documents.
Millennium Companies said the golf course will be designed by golf course architect Forrest Richardson, who has designed courses in Arizona, California, Utah and Mexico, and that the design will utilize existing trees on the property.
The nine-hole course will be open to the public, Hobbs said, but the company is exploring whether people who purchase homes at the development could receive a discount. He said the decision to open the club to the public was intentional, adding that golf had long been restricted to people who had the time and money to play.
He said their development would offer options for all kinds of golfers, regardless of experience level and whether they have a whole day to play or only an hour.
“We believe golf as a sport is not declining, but the way it is played is,” he said. “They don’t want to be out there for eight hours. They don’t want to feel pressure if they’re not good. They want to go out an enjoy two, four, six, eight holes with their kids or grandkids.”
Millennium Companies director of capital markets Bryce Molder is an Arkansas native and has played at the old Germantown Country Club during the St. Jude Classic. He said he wanted to give the golf club “a new future.”
“The vision for Germantown Golf Park is to provide all the hallmarks of great golf in a non-intimidating fashion. The idea is to let the golf be fun, but still challenging and enjoyable whether you’re a scratch player or just an occasional golfer,” he said in a release.
New ownership
The owners of the Germantown Country Club announced at the beginning of the year that the club would close due to financial reasons at the end of February. The club’s longtime owner, Ken Anderson, died in 2012. The club was placed into a trust by his widow, Mary Anderson, and had been held by that trust since her death in June 2018.
Relatives of the Andersons said earlier this year that they explored “all possible options to keep the club open,” but that the trustee recommended shuttering the country club.
A group of club members tried to put a bid together to buy the club and keep it open, but as members left for other area clubs, the group’s plan fell apart. The city and several local developers expressed interest in purchasing the property, but representatives of Cushman and Wakefield, the broker that represented the trustee, have not responded to requests for comment about how many groups bid on the club.
Millennium Companies has spearheaded the redevelopment of at least nine golf course properties in Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii and Scotland, according to the company website. Those properties ranged in size from 26 to 6,100 acres.
Hobbs said his company is focused on solutions that preserve golf facilities while giving communities a new way to experience them. After visiting Germantown and the country club property, he thought Millennium Companies would be well-suited to redeveloping the land.
“After making a few trips and meeting with people in the community, it was really obvious that there was a lot of tension about what may or not happen,” he said.
“The more I looked into it the more I realized that it might be something we could help with.”