What comes next?
Germantown Country Club’s property remains lucrative, but is anyone ready to buy it?
Three months after a deal to sell one of the largest properties in Germantown to an Arizona-based developer fell apart, the future of the Germantown Country Club, now shuttered for a year and a half, remains hazy. h Despite the financial uncertainty wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, single-family housing remains in short supply and high demand across Shelby County, making the land valuable for developers looking to build single-family homes. Tracey Jamison, manager of residential sales for Albright Investments, said she wouldn’t be surprised if the property sold quickly. h “It really is very desirable,” she said. “It’s a fantastic location. I don’t think there’d be any question as to whether it would sell.”
Open, developable space is in short supply across the county, Jamison said, particularly in Germantown. While a significant portion of the 180-acre country club is in a designated flood zone, she said that land could be used as open space or park space, both of which are desirable for home buyers looking in planned subdivisions.
The club is situated in a quiet residential area but close to the interstate, giving quick access to other parts of the metro area. And the property, nestled between Wolf River and Farmington boulevards, is still the largest chunk of land available for single-family home development in the city.
“Real estate sales are still so strong” during the pandemic, she said. “Germantown itself is still very strong and very desirable.”
Housing stock in the city is so limited, Jamison said she’ll often receive five or six offers on a house the same day it’s listed. Interest rates remain low, she said, so for a developer who feels they can weather the current economic uncertainty, the country club could be a very lucrative investment.
“From a builder’s standpoint, it would be great, because they don’t have a lot of (other) available space to build on,” she said.
Mayor Mike Palazzolo said city officials had spoken with the property’s trustee around the time Millennium Companies officials announced they would not move forward with plans to buy the golf club. Palazzolo said the city’s bid on the property remained on the table but city officials had not spoken with the trustee since that conversation.
Should the city administration look to move forward with a future purchase of the club, the buy would have to be approved by the Germantown Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Ongoing discussions about the current fiscal year budget — the previous fiscal year’s budget was extended into the current year to give city officials more time to assess the pandemic’s financial impact — include sweeping budget cuts to offset anticipated revenue dips.
A member of the Anderson family did not respond to a request for comment about the future of the property. The Andersons owned the club for decades before it was transferred into a trust before Mary Anderson’s death in 2018.
The backstory
The closure of the country club was first announced in January 2019, in a letter from ownership to club members. Within a few weeks of the closure, local homebuilders, the city and a group of club members all expressed the interest in acquiring the club. That effort by members to purchase the country club and keep it open as a golf course ultimately failed, and it was shuttered at the end of February.
The city bid on the property in April 2019 with the intent of turning it into a park if acquired, but in June of that year city officials said their $2.49 million bid had been rejected.
Millennium Companies announced plans to buy the club on July 1 and shared preliminary concepts for what they hoped to develop on the land, including a 9-hole golf course, condos and single-family homes and a park. Millennium Companies declined to share the amount they offered for the property, citing a confidentiality agreement with the trustee.
Some of the plans would have required a zoning change, which Palazzolo has said he would not support and which would likely have drawn protests from residents who have expressed concerns in recent years about the pace and density of new developments in the city.
The developer began meeting with residents of the neighborhoods bordering the club later that month and while some residents expressed support for the open space included in the preliminary concepts, many expressed the desire for a larger buffer zone between their properties and any future development.
The buffer zone and the types of housing that would be included in the development became sticking points as Millennium Companies met with neighbors and revised their plans and by the fall, their plans to buy and develop the land seemed to be in a holding pattern.
The company said in December that it “remains very much committed to the Germantown Country Club project,” despite months of radio silence both with the media and city officials. Four months later, Millennium Companies announced it was discontinuing discussions with the trustee for the Anderson family.
“Despite our strong working relationship with the seller’s team of representatives and our appreciation of their attention and professionalism during our interactions, we are disappointed that given the uncertain financial times across the globe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trust elected to not extend our feasibility period any longer without Millennium incurring additional unreasonable financial risk,” the company said in a statement in April.
Corinne Kennedy is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.kennedy@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Corinneskennedy