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Still no golf at Hillmoor

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Due to continuing money troubles, it appears that the Hillmoor golf course is unlikely to reopen this year.

LAKE GENEVA — The snow is melting, sun is peeking out from behind the clouds and golfers soon will be taking to the green.

But for a second consecutive season, they will not swing their clubs at Hillmoor Golf Course in Lake Geneva.

The historic golf course fell into financial and legal limbo two summers ago and has been up for sale for a few months. The bank that owns the course does not consider it an important project. And some city officials seem to have given up the idea of ever having golf there again.

“I’m a realist, and I’m willing to accept that things are going to change,” said Mayor Bill Chesen. “But do I lament that Hillmoor might not be a golf course 10 years from now? Yes, of course. … But that’s life.”

The city considers the abandoned golf course a prime piece of property and a top priority.

“It’s a gateway to the city,” Chesen said. “It’s a major green space that we’d like to see preserved.”

But the city does not have the money in its budget to buy the property and set it aside as a golf course.

“The value of that land runs in excess of $7 million,” Chesen said. “Are we willing to spend that to keep it a golf course? I’m sorry, but if I had to go back to the taxpayers and tell them that I’m going to raise their taxes $200 or $250 to maintain golf at Hillmoor, I think they would say no …”

Most of the golf course, which has held a prominent place in the community since the early 1920s, was sold at a sheriff’s auction in July for $17 million.

Kennedy Funding, the lender that foreclosed on the property after former owner George Wight defaulted on his $23.2 million loan, bought 192 acres. The city of Lake Geneva owns the remaining 34 acres, or about eight holes, which it long had leased to the owners of the golf course.

The bank hired CB Richard Ellis of Madison to sell the golf course. Brian Wolff, vice president of the real estate company, said the company is marketing the property as developable land but is telling interested buyers the city would like it to remain a golf course.

“It’s one of the last large parcels in the city that’s left for development,” he said.

Wolff said the company has received several inquiries from interested buyers, but price is a sticking point.

“What (the bank) purchased it back for might not be what it is worth now,” he said.

Kennedy Funding has told the city it does not consider the golf course a top priority.

“They told me they have many other projects that are higher in priority than Hillmoor, and they would not be in position to deal with Hillmoor for anywhere from 12 months to 36 months,” Chesen said. “I said, ‘It’s not a big deal for you, but it’s a very big deal to us.’”

The bank opened the driving range last spring and planned to open the golf course last summer. But crews never restored the greens and fairways to playing condition, and the city took over mowing the grass so it complies with city ordinance.

Some city officials and community members have expressed interest in obtaining the property to run a municipal golf course, but they are unwilling to spend the money.

The city council about two weeks ago voted unanimously against allocating $25,000 for an appraisal of the land and a golf course feasibility study. An ad hoc committee formed last fall to look at options for the city if it was to purchase the golf course is uncertain about its task.

“We’re looking for some direction from (the council),” said Jeff Wall, chairman of the Green Ribbon Committee. “We don’t know where we go from here.”

The committee is exploring the following ideas for Hillmoor:

-- Reopen it as an 18-hole municipal course.

-- Open it as a nine-hole municipal course.

-- Reopen it as an 18-hole municipal course and designate the northern portion as a city park.

-- Designate the entire course as a city park.

-- Create a new plan that might not include a golf or park component.

Rob Keefe, a member of the committee, said a study is critical to evaluate whether operating a golf course is a good option. He said the appraisal would be required to apply for state grants to offset the costs of purchasing the land for a city park.

Some council members said it would not make sense to spend $25,000 to study a property that seems to be priced too high.

But the committee believes the money would be well spent.

“It sure would be nice to keep it green space, but that requires money, which I don’t think at this time the city could support spending,” Wall said. “But whether it’s (the city) or a private group, somebody’s going to have to spend money on it.”

HILLMOOR TIMELINE

Hillmoor Golf Course was started in the early 1920s as a private-public partnership to create a public golf course in Lake Geneva. The city donated about 34 acres of land and issued a 99-year lease to ensure the golf course project succeeded.

May 2005: George Wight of Schaumburg, Ill., buys the property and proposes the Wight Canyon development of 275 multiple- and single-family homes on 226 acres, including the golf course. The plan includes 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.

February 2006: The city council approves the proposed development.

Spring 2006: Signs touting the proposed Wight Canyon development go up along Highway 50.

Wight announces Jim Gaugert, the longtime golf professional and general manager at Hillmoor, will play a lead role in plans to renovate the golf course.

The course is scheduled to be open for golf through the summer and close in the fall for renovations.

Spring 2007: Hillmoor opens for another season of golf.

August 2007: Alderman Mary Jo Fesenmaier proposes the city form a committee to explore whether the city should take ownership of the entire golf course after it becomes unclear if Wight will follow through with his plans to build a golf community.

The city council votes against forming such a committee, but that doesn’t prevent a group of citizens from crunching the numbers. The Committee to Preserve Hillmoor, led by longtime golfer Hank Sibbing, presents a study that shows a municipal golf course could break even if the city purchases the 192 acres owned by Wight for $4 million and the course sees an annual profit of $800,000.

October 2007: Hillmoor Golf Course effectively closes.

June 2008: Wight tells the Gazette he plans to open the course in the summer.

“In effort to preserve the course for the long term, we’ve been overly cautious (in opening for the season),” he said. “I’d like to open the course sometime this summer.”

Wight also tells the Gazette his company still plans to move ahead with the golf community.

“We fully intend to develop the property within the limitations of the current agreement (with the city),” he said.

August 2008: Kennedy Funding, the New Jersey lender through which Wight has a $23.2 million loan, files a foreclosure action against him in Walworth County Court. According to the lawsuit, Wight owes $19.4 million in principal and interest as of July 31, and interest is accruing at a rate of $12,000 per day.

The city notifies Wight that he is past due on his $15,000 annual payment to lease the city’s 34 acres. The notice gives him 30 days to pay before the lease is terminated.

January 2009: Kennedy Funding pays the city the overdue lease payment. Nancy Johnson, the attorney representing the lender, tells the Gazette the bank plans to open the golf course in the spring.

The city council directs the city attorney to negotiate with the lender the terms of its lease.

March 2009: The driving range at Hillmoor opens, and crews work to restore the golf course for an opening in the summer.

June 2009: The city terminates its lease with the current and future owners of the golf course.

July 2009: Kennedy Funding buys the Hillmoor Golf Course property for $17 million. An attorney for the bank says it plans to sell the property.

September 2009: The city forms the Green Ribbon Committee, an advisory committee charged with looking at options for the city if it was to purchase the golf course.

December 2009-January 2010: CB Richard Ellis, the real estate company selling the property on behalf of Kennedy Funding, puts the course up for sale.

February 2010: The Green Ribbon Committee asks the city council for $25,000 for an appraisal of the land and a golf course feasibility study, but the city council unanimously votes against it.