Presidential Golf Club Closes
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Presidential golf club, which opened in Loudoun County in May, apparently closed yesterday after more than a dozen unpaid contractors had filed liens on the property.
Some companies working on the $40 million first phase of the Dulles golf club, which included a clubhouse, golf academy, driving range, restaurant, pro shop and an 18-hole course, said they have not been paid since April. To date, these contractors have filed $3.4 million in liens in Loudoun County Circuit Court.
Eric R. Wells and Scott Stephens, president and vice president of The Presidential, didn't return numerous messages left yesterday. A telephone message told the public, "Unfortunately our facility is closed until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you."
In a statement, landowners Beaumeade Associates and North Dulles Retail Associates -- owned equally by The Tower Companies and Lerner Enterprises -- said they were notified over the weekend that The Presidential's debt, including past-due rent payments, would not be paid and that the club would be going out of business and abandoning the property on Monday.
Billed as a boardroom with a golf course, The Presidential aimed to be an exclusive retreat for corporate businessmen to network and entertain clients. Membership was capped at 150 companies, each paying $60,000 a year for employees and clients to use the golf course and clubhouse on Waxpool Road, east of Loudoun County Parkway. It also attracted a number of big names, such as Bill Dean, president and chief executive officer of M.C. Dean, and former Washington Redskins player Darrell Green, as investors.
A second phase, with an additional nine holes and other amenities, was planned to be added by 2010 at a cost of $30 million.
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Contractors vow that they'll continue to fight the club for payment.
"The contractors are not going away," said Joe Andronaco, president of USA Technology Services in Vienna. "I got calls about this all morning."
In June, Andronaco sent the club a slew of e-mails asking when his crew would be paid for electrical work.
"In the hopes of under promising and over performing I guess you can tell them payment [is] expected the week of [the] 30th," wrote back Rob Wagoner, development director for WestDulles Properties, Wells' company. "I hope to have it sooner than that, but we don't have any promises."
Today's marketplace has not been kind to golf. In 1999, 509 courses opened in the United States, compared with just 113 in 2007, according to the National Golf Foundation. More golf courses have closed in the past two years than have opened, according to foundation data.
And golf professionals had theorized that opening a ritzy, corporate-only course during an economic decline, as employers are cutting back on benefits, might be difficult.
From its inception, the club has had trouble with financing.
In 1999, the landowners leased 200 acres to The Presidential to build the facility, provided that they would have no responsibility for obligations or expenses. Wells signed on to the project.
A year later, he left, handing over completion to his partner. But planning and financing never got off the ground.
The Presidential
Wells returned and rewrote the lease in 2005, proposing a corporate-only membership structure and facility redesign. He recruited the Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf and created large boardrooms equipped with WiFi and video-conferencing.
Yet, no work began on the golf course. So last year, the landowners terminated the lease for failure to pay rent or build a golf course.
But in October 2007, Wells negotiated another lease with a fourth tenant, Presidential Golf Partners. The new tenant agreed to pay all unpaid contractors, rent and complete construction, according to the landowners.
But payments were not met and the lease once again was canceled in August, the landowners said.
Tagged: business, golf, The Presidential Golf Club
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If that were a public course I would be there at least twice weekly. Its a beautiful layout.
Posted by mark.riggins (anonymous) on September 16, 2008 at 12:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Has a golf course been built? Could it be turned into a public course?
Posted by hphokie (anonymous) on September 16, 2008 at 4:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
They're about 10 years too late in trying to build a successful country club in Dulles. Now that the dot com ship has sailed, it's going to be hard to find clients with stock options to burn on membership fees.
Posted by Dingus2 (anonymous) on September 17, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice Dingus I agree! Public would be real nice! Poor algonkian is just wore out
Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on September 17, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Presidential joins Beacon Hill as an abandoned golf course. I think that the two were together in some sort of deal initially.
That property is too valuable to remain as a golf course. I predict housing, strip malls, or office parks coming there eventually. (not that we need more of any of these...)
There is already an excess of golf capacity in the area and greens fees are dropping. Many local courses, both public and private are struggling to stay afloat.
Posted by blueridgepro (anonymous) on September 17, 2008 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I played the only 9 holes they had open there on Saturday. It was nice, but short and unremarkable. The corporate membership only idea was doomed to start with. Companies are cutting benefits so they are not going to waste money on golf course memberships.
Posted by jjay76 (anonymous) on September 17, 2008 at 1:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
blueridgepro: A golf course is one of the only things that can go on that property. It's in a flood plain.
Posted by BaseballGal83 (anonymous) on September 18, 2008 at 2:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I work in the building right behind some of the holes that are under construction. I walked over there and picked up a Nike ball off the par 3 third green today, someone left their tee shot 15 ft. from the hole. Some of us have been enjoying watching the course being built, now we get to watch it dry up and fall into weeds and undergrowth, how sad. We hope someone will step in and finish the 18 and open it as an upscale daily fee course, they could get $75-$100 per round easily. I only dreamed of playing it someday, but now it may become a reality. I would love to play it after work once a week.
Posted by pjkutz (anonymous) on September 19, 2008 at 4:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The land across from Wegmans is not floodplain. We'll see a shopping center there in the not to distant future.
Posted by blueridgepro (anonymous) on September 23, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
HAHA Good for that POS course. About TEN years too late.
And to blueridgepro. Why don't you go tell your theory to Fairfax parks that just RAISED their daily golf fees.
I see no reductions in Fairfax/Loudoun.
That course is not an upscale daily fee either. That course is not in the same league as Raspberry Falls but it also is not Westpark.
That course is a $50-65. $70-at best.
Posted by dickcinormas (anonymous) on September 24, 2008 at 7:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I met the first owner group, Golf Club of VA in 9/02, who also owned Beacon Hill. The original facility name was Bear National (still a Nicklaus course). When that went south, new group took over in 03, National Capital Golf Ventures and needed to change facility name to disassociate, so they changed to The Presidential. I thought this was to sound similar to Congressional, but Wells told me their reason was because they were targeting presidents of companies.
The first group’s plan was for 27 hole, the last 9 (possibly lit) being on the other side of waxpool (tunnel under). I can't say if that was a pipe dream or actually approved—the fact that was dropped might have been land, county, financial, or simply new owners’ vision. Lit/covered/heated training and upscale clubhouse were always the plan.
All of it beautiful and above top notch, but obviously you need to cover your costs and make money. That's why the focus was corporations. Between the aol and housing bubble, they thought executives would justify the $50-60K/yr membership for exclusive business networking opportunities with the other top/largest 125 businesses in the county. You can hire a bad sales person for $80K/year and get nothing sold, or send all your key executives here to do business, guaranteed to have an association w/ these companies because of your exclusive membership. The plan also included unlimited golf privileges for corporate members and their guests and access to conference space and other business amenities. Select opportunities would have been available to non-member corporate outings and individuals (ie the academy and restaurant), so residents of Loudoun would not have been excluded completely but you would have been excited to get in.
Golf has long been known as a strategic method to build relationships and do business on the course. To position this facility completely different from the other nice courses (which we have a lot of), golf was really secondary to building an exclusive corporate club. The plan was over three phases, and we’re only seeing the first phase. So I assume a lot of the land that was reserved for this is still untouched and Lerner will certainly find new use for it. Although the existing 9-hole course could be a public course the bigger issue is the massive debt to build it and the clubhouse. We could see someone be able to buy up in a fire sale and make something successful here especially if Lerner (the land owner) isn’t stuck with the unpaid bills. The club house looks great from the outside, I can’t see anyone taking this down. So it’ll be interesting to see who comes in and is able to take advantage of someone else’s loss. (hey, Redskins/Snyder are right up the street, looks better than a 6-Flags deal to me.)
Lisa Craig, CEO DMB Sports Group, Inc.
Posted by lcraig (anonymous) on October 17, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sure the executives who paid their $60K are happy with the "exclusiveness" of the place. Can't wait to see phase 2 of the plan!
LOL.
I'm still betting on a strip mall.
Posted by blueridgepro (anonymous) on December 25, 2008 at 3:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is Judge Schmails' Fault!
Posted by OhTheHumanity (anonymous) on December 26, 2008 at 1:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a devout golfer, it pains me to drive by Presidential daily.
Surely, a buyer can be found to make Presidential a public golf course open to all.
There is a rumor Donald Trump is looking at the property - which means Average Joe Golfer is doomed to dream.
Posted by clandestinetomcat (anonymous) on February 5, 2009 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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