It’s official — the town of Gypsum is under contract to buy the Cotton Ranch Golf Course, which has been in financial straits.
“It will be an affordable municipal golf course,” said Town Manager Jeff Shroll. “Greens fees will rival those charged in Garfield County or maybe even Mesa County, which are the cheapest places to golf on the Western Slope.”
Gypsum will buy the course through a lease purchase for $2.5 million, with a closing date in mid January. Shroll emphasized the town is not cutting services or raising taxes for the deal.
“We feel like we need to protect the [value of] homes,” Shroll said, explaining that such a struggling operation affects property assessments townwide.
The course has been financially troubled for at least a year. The owners of the golf course — Cotton Ranch Club Inc. and Cotton Ranch Company, LLC., based in Gypsum — defaulted on their loan from PMC Commercial Trust. That set off a series of court hearings and the course operation was placed in the hands of a receiver last spring.
Eventually PMC Commercial, the lender for the Cotton Ranch golf course, purchased the asset at an Eagle County Assessor sale in July. The purchase price was $1.7 million. The lender was the only bidder at the sale.
Since the golf course went into foreclosure earlier this year, PMC Commercial contracted with Edge Golf Group to manage the golf course and other club facilities. Attorney Bob Holmes, who was representing PMC at the assessor’s sale, said his clients don’t want to be in the golf course business. He noted PMC Commercial Trust was interested in talking to anyone about a purchase and that the company just wanted to get the loan repaid.
Gypsum town officials considered the prospect of buying the course for seven years, Shroll said, “when prices were $5 million to $7 million higher.”
The town elected not to participate in the foreclosure sale several months ago because that process was hampered by the fact that the successful buyer would acquire the course in its present state.
Shroll noted by holding off, the town was able to complete comprehensive due diligence process. That process included an examination of homeowners’ rights with respect to the club takeover.
With the buy, Shroll said, Gypsum “could become one of the premier recreational towns in the county.”
This artical is provided by The Vail Daily written by Derek Franz. Eagle Valley Enterprise editor Pam Boyd contributed to this report. View this artical on Vail Daily: CLICK HERE
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