A pair of golf clubs in South OC have traded hands for just over $120M on a combined basis, marking one of the larger real estate deals in the region this year, property records indicate.
The 36-hole Coto de Caza Golf & Racquet Club recently sold for close to $81 million, while the 18-hole Aliso Viejo Country Club sold for an additional $40.6M.
Property records point to an Irvine-based LLC with foreign ties as the new owner of both properties.
Sources tell the Business Journal that the buyer has connections to a wealthy Korean family that owns a multinational conglomerate. Attempts to reach the new owner were unsuccessful.
The Dallas-based club operator Invited, formerly known as ClubCorp, sold the two courses, the firm’s only remaining holdings in the area. Invited will continue managing both properties as part of the sale, sources say.
The deal isn’t expected to affect membership benefits.
For more details, see next week’s print edition.
Big changes are being considered at the Big Canyon Country Club, where plans to revamp the exclusive Newport Beach club’s golf course are in the works.
The club, located near Fashion Island, is considering spending upward of $30M to update and improve the 18-hole course, a plan which, if it moves ahead, could take the course offline for roughly a year, potentially starting as soon as next year.
Other proposals that have been considered include closing 4-6 holes at a time for a staggered renovation process.
Much of the infrastructure at the golf course is over 25 years old, and as a result, the course’s quality isn’t as high as many of the other facilities and amenities at Big Canyon, officials believe. The last big renovation for the golf course was in 1998.
Conversations are “ongoing” with several local clubs, including Pelican Hill, Shady Canyon and Oak Creek, to allow Big Canyon members to play elsewhere during any future construction period, documents indicate.
A timeframe for the project moving ahead and specific details of the improvement plan haven’t been finalized. Sources tell the Business Journal that a large majority of the club’s members approved plans to move ahead with a revamp.
Dues aren’t expected to increase at Big Canyon Country Club if the plan moves ahead. The club already collects nearly $2.7M in dues annually to pay for an existing loan that’s set to expire in 2027, and for a fund for golf club repairs. That level of funding would continue for another 12 years or so to pay off the cost of any new construction work, according to documents pertaining to the proposed project.
Andrew Green, a prominent golf course architect, has been hired to head up the project’s design, documents indicate.
The master plan committee for the redesign of the golf course includes a number of well-known area real estate industry vets, including Starpointe Ventures’ Tim Strader Jr., Shea Homes’ Bert Selva and J.F. Shea’s Peter Shea Jr., as well as execs including Deloitte’s Marshall Solomon.
