NEW COURSE OF ACTION
Colonial Country Club plans to turn North Course into homes.
Colonial Country Club’s plan to turn one of its 18-hole courses into houses and apartments has the surrounding pieces — including roads, schools and retail — needed for success, says the leader of local Realtors.
But the president of the West Tennessee Home Builders Association is not so sure, expressing concern that the 2001 annexation of Countrywood by Memphis may stymie demand for new housing in the proposed Neighborhood at Colonial Country Club.
The last players ever to play the 43-year-old North Course teed off at 1:15 p.m. Sunday. The course’s lakes and towering trees are to become the setting for 440 single-family residences and 670 apartment units if the Land Use Control Board and Memphis City Council approve the proposed planned development.
Starting today, Colonial will no longer spend money to mow, fertilize, weed and manicure the lesser of its two golf courses. The club has already made improvements to its renowned South Course, which annually hosted the Memphis PGA Tour tournament until 1988, and plans more upgrades to it and club facilities once developers start buying the North Course’s 162 acres.
“The area is well located on I-40 and Germantown Parkway,” said Thomas Murphree, president of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors. Colonial sits at or near two major junctions: Interstate 40 at Germantown Road, and I-40 at U.S. 64.
“So the access and support facilities, the churches and the businesses and the work centers, are close by and easily accessible,” Murphree said. “It’s got all the parts, so it should work.”
Colonial’s move to shore up its operations by developing one of its courses for residences seems like a “logical” move to Gary Thompson, vice president for the development firm Boyle Investment Co.
As the community goes, so goes our club. And as our club goes, so goes our community. I believe we are inextricably connected.”
James “J.R.” Russell, majority owner of Colonial Country Club
“That area is pretty well fully developed out with both (single-family and multifamily residences),” he said. “And most of the housing stock located near there is several decades old at this point. So, as always, fresh, new homes and apartments would create a draw for some buyers (and) renters there.”
New housing makes more sense at the site than more retail or office space, Thompson said, “if they capitalize on the beautiful site left by the golf course to offer a great place and modern home offerings that are much closer to work locations of Memphis.
“Right now (one) must drive much farther east to Lakeland, Arlington or even out into Fayette County to get affordable new homes,” Thompson said. “I’m just guessing, but I would assume that most of the homes in Lakeland will be above the price point that the new homes in Colonial will offer.”
New homes in The Neighborhood at Colonial Country Club likely will sell for $225,000 to $300,000, and townhomes for $175,000 to $240,000, the project’s land planner, Bob Dalhoff, has said.
“All of that will be tempered by the fact that there are still a good number of homes for sale in the Cordova market and (it) has not yet fully recovered from the losses of the Great Recession,” Thompson said.
David Goodwin Jr., president of the West Tennessee Home Builders Association, developed in the mid-1990s 112 lots at Carrollwood Lakes near Colonial and in Countrywood.
“My biggest concern back then is we may be annexed before my exit strategy was exercised where I could get out of there,” Goodwin said. “It took quite a while to do it. That is a death knell when you have the city of Memphis annex you, unless you are in Downtown or some small infill pocket of Midtown or East Memphis.
“So I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to be able to market that and have people who welcome a move into the city.”
Goodwin said he believes the proposed development stands a much better chance of success if proposed legislation in the General Assembly passes. A bill that was tabled last session by its sponsors would allow neighborhoods to hold referendums to de-annex themselves under certain circumstances.
“I think if (Countrywood) was de-annexed it would have a much better chance of success and be much more attractive,” Goodwin said.
State Rep. Steve McManus, who represents much of Cordova but not Countrywood, expressed confidence the de-annexation bill will pass next year; it lacked just a couple of supporters in the House of Representatives last session and has enough support already in the Senate, he said.
As now written, the legislation would allow any area to hold a de-annexation referendum if the area had been annexed since May 1, 1998. Countrywood would qualify. Any debt taken on by Memphis to make improvements to Countrywood would have to be repaid by residents through assessments.
The attorney representing Colonial Country Club’s efforts to get approval of the planned development said the possibility of de-annexation was not a factor in the project.
“I don’t think anybody at my end has even thought about it or mentioned it,” Ronald Harkavy said of the legislation.
“The fact of the matter is you are going to have all this acreage. Something has got to happen to it. It’s not going to be absorbed in a year, not going to be absorbed in two years,” Harkavy said.
But Memphis has relatively few residential lots to develop, he said, adding those left over from the Great Recession are being absorbed by now. “I think there will be a market for new, fresh residential development,” Harkavy said.
James “J.R.” Russell is majority owner of Colonial Country Club and lives next to the South Course’s 17th hole. “We’re trying to do what’s best for our club and community,” Russell said.
“The homeowners association at Countrywood are trying to revitalize themselves ... We need to revitalize that whole area there. I don’t know what the downside is, but I believe the upside for the community and for value of property out there has got to be positive,” Russell said.
“As the community goes, so goes our club. And as our club goes, so goes our community. I believe we are inextricably connected,” he said.