KemperSports comes back to Harding Park

NORTHBROOK, Ill. - Two years after bowing out of negotiations with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission, KemperSports Management has agreed to manage the city’s Harding Park Golf Course.

The company also assumed management of three former Gotham Golf Corp.-managed properties for commercial lender ORIX Capital Markets LLC, which reacquired the courses in lieu of foreclosure.

The Harding Park deal culminates a turbulent four years in the course’s history, which saw two management companies back out of deals (Arnold Palmer Golf Management was the other one) and several false starts in attempts to give the course a much-needed facelift.

KemperSports pulled out in 2001 because of what it said were unrealistic expectations on the part of the city. According to Steve Skinner, KemperSports president, the city’s desire to have the renovation project privately funded made any deal nearly impossible to complete.

“The last time it came up, they wanted a private developer to come in and pay for the improvements, and then lease it from them. But they also wanted resident rates to be very affordable and have 60 percent of the tee times go to residents,” Skinner said. “The numbers never really worked to get private investment in and still have such a favorable rate for the residents.”

At that time, KemperSports CEO Steve Lesnik said his company would consider managing the property if some of the requirements and expectations were changed.

Skinner said KemperSports suggested the city fund the course publicly, which the city then did, opening the door for KemperSports’ return.

“They got some grants to fund it publicly, so now it is a pure management contract from our standpoint,” Skinner said. “It allows them to do what they need to do and control local rates. It’s obviously a golf course that’s very close to the hearts of many San Francisco golfers over the years. It just got too hard to balance if they had a private investor in there as well.”

TAKING OVER FOR GOTHAM

The three former Gotham Golf courses KemperSports is managing are Edgewood in the Pines in Drums, Pa., Robin Dale Golf Club in Brandywine, Md., and Lake Arbor Golf Club in Mitchellville, Md. The company also manages another foreclosed property for ORIX in Wisconsin.

Skinner said the courses are great properties that are simply in need of some sprucing up.

“There are tough times at a lot of places and I think they got caught up in Gotham’s other issues elsewhere, so they haven’t had the attention, care or financing they need,” he said. “We’re just getting our feet on the ground there.”

Skinner said the three properties are not unique.

“There’s a lot of other courses caught up in it, so the uncertainty is not good for the golf courses, or the golf business in general,” he said.

GRAND RE-OPENING

Harding Park is poised to open this summer, most likely in July, Skinner said. This is just over a year after the facility closed down to undergo what he called a significant renovation.

“It was a complete renovation from top to bottom,” Skinner said. “They thinned out a lot of trees that had become overgrown, they kept the corridors pretty much the same, did a lot of shaping and rebuilt everything - all the fairways, all the drainage and irrigation.”

Skinner said the renovation benefited from the good weather the area has enjoyed since the course closed last year (GCN, June 2002).

“The renovation is complete. It’s in grow-in now. They’ve got a couple of drainage issues that they’re correcting now, but the golf course should be ready to go by mid-summer,” he said. “The new clubhouse is not up yet, but that construction will begin this summer, so we’ll operate out of a temporary facility.”

The initial plan was for Harding Park to be added to the PGA Tour’s rotation of sites for the annual Tour Championship this year. Skinner said he wasn’t sure when that would start now, but that the Tour will be bringing an event to Harding Park in the near future.

“They’re negotiating with the Tour, but the Tour is bringing one of its international events, probably starting in 2006 to give us a chance to get the golf course in good shape and get the clubhouse up,” Skinner said.

When the course reopens, it will also debut its nine-hole Fleming course, which also went under the knife, as well as a new First Tee facility. Skinner said he wasn’t sure what the green fees would be, but city residents will pay significantly less than visitors.

“It’s going to be exciting. It is so important to so many people out there in San Francisco, and to see the shape it was in before the renovation was just a shame,” he said. “It’s really going to be spectacular.”