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The Hillmoor Country Club of Lake Geneva.
The Hillmoor Country Club of Lake Geneva.
LAKE GENEVA — The New Jersey lender that took ownership of Hillmoor Golf Course through foreclosure has paid the city a $15,000 late lease payment and plans to open the course in April.
The city owns eight holes on the course and had leased them to Illinois developer George Wight, who owned the rest of the course. But foreclosure on his $23.2 million loan has put the golf course into the hands of Kennedy Funding of New Jersey.
The city council on Monday voted to have the city attorney negotiate with Kennedy Funding.
"In an effort to try to keep golf there, pulling the lease doesn't get that accomplished," Mayor Bill Chesen told The Janesville Gazette.
The city attorney has been directed to discuss with the Kennedy Funding "any possibilities of things they may be willing to do, any guarantees they may be willing to give us that they will maintain the property and bring it up to standards," Chesen said.
Wight fell into financial trouble last summer, and Kennedy Funding filed a foreclosure action against him Aug. 4. A foreclosure judgment was granted Dec. 30, according to court records.
Wight also was past due on his $15,000 annual lease payment to the city as of Aug. 1.
Nancy Johnson, the attorney representing Kennedy Funding, said Monday the lender has "worked diligently" to satisfy the terms of the lease with the city, including making Wight's overdue lease payment.
Anticipating the city council's closed-session discussion about the lease, she said it would not be in the city's interest to terminate the lease. Not only would the city lose out on annual lease payments, it also would then assume responsibility for maintaining the 34 acres it owns. Terminating the lease also would halt the planned development the city previously approved for the property, she said
Wight Realty Group of Schaumburg, Ill., in May 2005 proposed its Wight Canyon development of 275 multiple- and single-family homes on 226 acres, including the golf course. The plan included redesigning the golf course from a 72-par professional course to a smaller 64-par course, a new clubhouse, a banquet hall and a 100-room hotel with a retail center.
The city council approved the development in February 2006, but nothing ever happened.
Johnson said stopping the planned development would lower the value of the property, leaving Kennedy Funding no incentive to maintain the golf course.
"There would be no alternative but to litigate this," she said. "And Kennedy Funding doesn't want to do that."
Johnson said Kennedy Funding plans to open Hillmoor by mid-April, weather permitting, and keep it open as long as it owns the golf course and as long as the city keeps its lease.
She said rather than spend money on litigation, the lender would prefer to spend money on making the property "look good" so it successfully can be sold to a developer.