Toledo's Brandywine Country Club put up for sale with asking price of $2.95M
11/15/2012The Dallas-based management group that owns Brandywine Country Club in suburban Toledo has put the golf course up for sale with an asking price of $2.95 million.
The 27-hole golf course and associated property is listed with Marcus & Millichap, a large commercial real estate firm based in Tampa. It has been on the market about a week, said Christopher Karamitsos, co-founder of the Marcus & Millichap’s National Golf and Resorts Properties Group, and the property’s listing agent.
“It’s a nice property,” he said. “It’s really very pretty, and I think it’s got a lot of charm with the old farmhouse an integral part of the clubhouse.”
Brandywine opened in 1967, with the 25,000-square-foot club house being completed the following year. The property includes a regular 18-hole course, nine-hole executive course, full-service restaurant, new fitness center, tennis courts, and a junior Olympic-sized swimming pool.
“I was really pleasantly surprised when I went and took my initial tour of the property and got to see the swimming pool and the amenities assoicated with the club,” Mr. Karamitsos said. “I thought it was very nice. It really is going to be a good investment for someone. I think someone is going to do very well with this.”
The golf course was designed by Arthur Hills, a noted Toledo-based designer whose work includes more than 185 golf courses across the world. Mr. Hills also oversaw the 1999 renovations at Inverness Club in Toledo.
Dallas-based Eagle Golf bought Brandywine in November, 2007, for $4.84 million. Patrick Mackey, a spokesman for the company, said the Monclova Township course didn’t fit in with Eagle’s long-term strategy. The company sold two courses in the Columbus area in June.
“When we made the decision to exit Ohio, we made the decision to exit Ohio,” Mr. Mackey said. “It’s very difficult to manage a course when you’ve got one in Toledo, Ohio, and you’re based in Dallas, Texas.”
Eagle operates 25 golf courses, 19 of which are in Texas. Brandywine is the company’s only remaining Ohio property.
George Rees, Brandywine’s general manager, said the club is doing well. He said it sold seven memberships in October and has a few more in the works.
“We’re going to end up the year with a net positive of 70 to 75 members, and that’s continuing. I think that’s representative of the club itself. Things have been going well. Membership’s up and also participation and utilization.”
Carlo Poggi, a longtime member and chairman of the club’s board of governors, heaped praise on the course conditions this year. But he said the club has a good mix of older and younger members and is much more than a golf course.
“We've got a lot to offer, and that’s kind of how we try to bill ourselves: as a family activity club,” he said.
The club has about 410 members, Mr. Poggi said.
Though the asking price is considerably lower than what Eagle paid five years ago, Mr. Karamitsos said that’s been the case for most courses that have come up for sale in the last couple of years. Part of that, he said, is because financing is difficult to secure for noncore assets — things such as hotels and golf courses. As a result, most purchases have been cash or done with private equity, driving prices down somewhat.
He said the course has drawn some very cursory interest from a couple of hospitality and ownership groups in the Midwest and Toledo markets.
Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.