ARLINGTON – The developer of Gleneagle, George Brown, confirmed that he and his partners would be interested in selling the subdivision’s golf course to the right buyer for the right price.
Brown had been unavailable for comment for a story Monday in The Herald about the golf course’s future.
The story cited memos between Jack Shouman, Gleneagle’s homeowners’ association president, and city officials questioning whether Brown’s 1991 contract with the city would allow him to replace the golf course with more homes.
The questions sounded alarms for many in Gleneagle, Arlington’s largest subdivision, with 1,025 upscale homes.
In an e-mailed statement, Brown said only that he was exploring all options.
City officials said replacing the golf course with more homes would have to be approved by the City Council. That would be politically unlikely, they said.
Since then, Brown answered some follow-up questions, again by e-mail.
“We may be willing to sell the golf course if offered a reasonable price by a qualified buyer,” Brown wrote.
Brown said Shouman had asked him if he was willing to sell the golf course.
“He did not indicate who was making the offer,” Brown wrote. “He represented that the Mill Creek Golf Course sold for $2.5 million. I informed him that in fact Mill Creek has sold for $6.5 million.”
Shouman clarified that he was not making any kind of offer.
“I didn’t ask (Brown) if it was for sale,” Shouman said. “He mentioned it was for sale … This was just a general conversation. We were not in a buy-sell situation.”
Shouman said he was simply responding to comments Brown made about how much Gleneagle golf course was worth. Aside from the e-mails, Shouman said the issue came up during direct conversations with Brown as well.
Shouman said he knows more than one group of people who have expressed interest in buying the golf course. He said he told Brown those people tended to think the Gleneagle course was worth about $2.5 million.
“I didn’t even specify who those people were … That’s as far as it went,” Shouman said.
He would not say who those people were but emphasized that he was not representing any of them when talking about money with Brown.
Consistently poor revenues at the golf course appear to be driving the decision to sell. The golf course, clubhouse and driving range have been managed for Brown and his partners by American Golf Corp., of Santa Monica, Calif. American Golf’s lease expires Sept. 1, Brown wrote.
“American Golf has informed us they have never made a profit at Gleneagle and do not intend to renew the lease,” Brown wrote.
Shouman said he would be interested to see if the community would like to make an offer to buy the golf course. “I’m thinking kind of like a co-op,” he said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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