Source: Press Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.)
The Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians plans to buy a 165-acre golf club about a mile from its casino as part of an attempt to diversify its economic holdings and to bring more tourists to the San Jacinto Valley, according to the tribe's leader.
Soboba Springs Golf Club includes an 18-hole, championship-caliber course, a banquet room and recently renovated clubhouse, tennis courts and a swimming pool.
"We own everything around the golf course already," said tribal chairman Robert Salgado by phone. "This is another piece of that puzzle."
The tribe has been trying to buy the course for the last 10 years, but the owner, Honolulu-based Waterhouse Inc., hasn't wanted to sell, Salgado said. "This time, the opportunity was there, and we made an offer."
Salgado, who didn't want to say what the asking price was, added
that the sale is in escrow and scheduled to close Dec. 15.
Soboba Springs general manager Karl Reul said he and his staff are waiting to hear what happens and whether the tribe will keep the club's employees. No one from Waterhouse, which owns and manages properties in Hawaii and California, returned calls seeking comment for this story.
Like other nearby courses, Soboba Springs gets a lot of visitors on the weekends, said Diane Wirth, director of the Valley Economic Development Corp, which serves Hemet and San Jacinto.
The golf course is breaking even now, but Salgado said he believes the tribe could make it into a much more profitable venture by upgrading it, including the kitchen, tennis facilities and swimming area, and adding activities and services.
"We can use it to promote with our casino, with the high-rollers who come to golf and have weekend tournaments," he said. Eventually, the tribe would like to build a spa and possibly even a hotel. "That would be down the road," Salgado said.
