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Sunday, Mar. 21, 2010

Barrington Hall's golf greens in the red

Ken Vicinus fell in love with the golf course at Barrington Hall the first time he saw it.

“I’m still in love with it,” he said. “I never get tired of playing it.”

In 2002, Vicinus bought the property — a rolling 144-acre course, restaurant, clubhouse and pool — that anchors the north Bibb County community, where homes typically sell from $250,000 to $500,000. He also bought a house there after moving from New Jersey.

Now, Vicinus says he’s preparing to end what has been mostly a one-sided affair. Despite a $4 million investment, Fox Run Country Club has never turned a profit and is losing more than $500,000 a year, he said.

“It’s like pouring money into a sinkhole.”

Vicinus said he owes $1.8 million on the property and will likely either file bankruptcy or face foreclosure next month. In the meantime, Barrington Hall residents are scrambling to figure out how to keep the course open until a buyer can be found. Untended greens and fairways can fall into extensive disrepair in a matter of weeks, so the golf course — once a selling point — would drag down property values of the more than 400 homes in Barrington Hall if it closes.

“All we’re trying to do is keep the golf course open,” said resident Jim Huffstetler, a leader of a neighborhood effort to save the course. “The residents want the golf course to stay open. They realize their property values are at stake. The community is at stake.”

Vicinus said he has consulted with a developer and tax, property and golf course appraisers, and they all agree that homes in Barrington Hall could be devalued by 10 percent or more if the club goes under.

“This is not just a Barrington Hall issue,” he added. “It’s a Bibb County and Middle Georgia issue. This would have ramifications on the tax base.”

Economy, weather a ‘double whammy’ for golf courses

On a sunny afternoon last week, a spattering of puffy clouds outnumbered the handful of cars in the Fox Run parking lot.

Tom Hogan had just finished a round at the course, where he’s been a member for almost five years. He’s not a resident of Barrington Hall but lives nearby.

“I’m living my retirement to play golf,” he said. “This has been the ticket for me.”

Hogan is in a senior group that plays different public and semi-private courses in the area. Fox Run, he said, is “the leader as far as layout goes,” though it lacks the “aesthetic appeal” of some courses.

“I think everyone realizes what the challenges have been for the owner. The weather this winter has just been the icing on the cake.”

The economy has been just as harsh on golf courses as the wet and cold weather. Hogan says fixed-income and now-and-then golfers have cut back on their rounds.

“Golf course operation is probably a much more expensive endeavor than most players realize,” said Hogan, who works part-time as a marshal at Fox Run. “When you have to depend on off-the-street play in a year when off-the-street play is down, that’s a double whammy.”

The golf club at Barrington Hall had about 150 members when Vicinus bought the course. The membership now is down to about 50.

Only about 15 to 20 of those members are Barrington Hall residents, Vicinus said.

“I’ve tried for years to cajole the residents out here. It’s in their best interest to support the golf course. The homes out here do not add value to the golf course. The golf course adds value to the homes.”

If Barrington Hall residents were not interested before, they are now. Vicinus called several meetings late last year to discuss the club’s financial issues, but only about 80 people turned out. Three recent meetings organized by neighborhood residents each drew about 250 people.

One idea tossed around was a membership drive in which residents would buy $150 monthly memberships for six months to keep the course open while a buyer is found. The residents, led by Huffstetler and fellow resident Mickey Belote, have organized into five committees, with 55 members.

“They’re not really interested in being golf course owners,” said Huffstetler. “We’re trying to work through to see how we can keep the club open. ... It’s in the bank’s best interest to keep it open.”

Huffstetler moved to Barrington Hall about two and a half years ago. He describes himself as an “every-now-and-then golfer” who plays only a couple of times a year.

“I’m not a buyer, not an investor. I’m just a guy in the neighborhood who wants to keep the pool open so my kids can go swimming. That’s why I bought there.”

Buyer needed

Though the golf course has struggled financially for years, Vicinus said his bank, CB&T in Warner Robins, “put some wheels in motion” when it changed the terms of the loan early last year.

The bank, he said, switched a 25-year fixed mortgage, with a rate of 1 percent over prime, to a one-year, adjustable rate mortgage with a floor at 5 percent, resulting in a higher monthly mortgage payment.

“We would be having a negative cash flow even if we didn’t have a bank note,”

CB&T referred questions about Barrington Hall to its owner, Synovus in Columbus. Synovus officials declined comment, saying federal privacy and customer protection laws prohibits the discussion of any banking relationship or loan agreement.

Vicinus admits that cash flow problems have kept him from “recapitalizing the club like it should be.” If he did, the club would lose about $600.000 a year, he said. As it stands, he estimates his losses at about $40,000 a month.

“I can’t continue to sustain that kind of loss,” he said. “I’m doing it for my employees. I’m doing it for my members. I’m doing it because I love this golf course.”

Huffstetler attributes the perceived lack of support by Barrington Hall residents to a dissatisfaction with Vicinus’ operation.

“It’s like you’re a restaurant owner. If you cook good food and it’s reasonably priced, they’ll eat there. If it’s not good food and too high priced, they’re not going to eat there. If it’s a golf course and they don’t like the way you run the place, they’re going to go somewhere else.”

Fees at Fox Run are comparable to other area public courses. Rates — including cart fees — are $30 on weekdays and $40 on weekends and holidays.

Vicinus remains hopeful the course can stay open. If not, assets at the club — such as equipment and furniture — would be sold to pay on the debt. The assets are valued at about $385,000 but would cost more than $1 million to replace, he said.

“What I would like to do is sell the golf course to the community, and it doesn’t have to be the Barrington Hall community.”

Huffstetler, who along with Belote has been authorized by Vicinus to negotiate with the bank, said no “committed buyer” has come forward but several brokers have expressed interest in selling the property. He’s not sure of the impact the course’s closing would have on property values, but he said the Bibb County tax assessor’s Web site shows homes along the course typically are valued about $20,000 higher than homes “across the street.”

“If they’re going to go down $20,000, what am I going to go down?” he asked.

Already a number of homes in Barrington Hall have “for sale” signs on their lawns. Should Fox Run shut down, homeowners would likely find selling their houses even more difficult.

“Real estate agents are having a hard time maintaining traffic through here because of the fact that the course may close,” Huffstetler said.