Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette (Wis.)
Hobart, Wis. - Golf season may be winding down, but Hobart decision-makers' tee time is quickly approaching to settle the future of the Thornberry Creek Country Club.
Hobart's Golf Course Advisory Committee in its special meeting Wednesday presented village residents with five scenarios for the 27-hole golf course, which Hobart bought for $7.3 million in a controversial decision nearly two years ago. Course developer and former co-owner Jack Schweiner's lease expires April 1, leaving arguably the village's most valuable asset on the line.
"As far as Hobart goes, I compare Thornberry Creek to Lambeau Field or the Resch Center," said Mike Hermes, a Thornberry Creek resident and a committee alternate. "We really need as a whole group to be very concerned about how this keeps up."
What happens in coming months is first up to Schweiner, who until Jan. 3 has first dibs on buying the course for $7.3 million. It's the first choice of village leaders, committee Chairman Jim Anderson said, but even though the village is $289,000 in the black under Schweiner's management, some in the crowd expressed doubts about his ability to make the purchase.
After calling Schweiner on a cell phone during the meeting, Hobart resident Tony Borseth told the crowd Schweiner intends to take up his option. Borseth has worked with Schweiner on financing and said several East Coast interests are involved.
The other options are extending Schweiner's lease, selling the course to another party under demands that it stay a golf course and that the buyer pay the equivalent of all property taxes, continue village ownership in partnership with a local or national management company or selling the course to residents. Hermessaid the last option won't be possible unless the lease is extended first.
Perhaps the hottest topic for those attending Wednesday was the pending court arbitration involving the unfinished golf cart paths. About $2.2 million of the village's $7.3 million payment is held in an escrow account to finish the job. With one of the former course owners disputing what a completed course entails, an Appleton-area judge will make a binding decision whether the standard brick paths are required. Whatever money is left in escrow after the job is finished would go to Schweiner and his former partner.
