Ahwatukee Lakes closes (Phoenix)

[Tom Yost]

Despite the economic downturn and the overbuilt market, the Phoenix metro area has not seen too many course closures. May 5th however, spelled the end of the line for the Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course.

I missed the May closure announcement, only finding out about it in this weekend's follow up article.  With the news that some of the greens are being stripped of turf for use at the ownership's other properties, it would seem any hope for a revival is dim.

The Lakes course was a ~4000 yard, 18 hole executive course designed by Gary Panks and opened in 1980.  It was a bit dear to my heart, having been the site of my company's weekday evening 9-hole match play league for several years.  The last decade had not been kind as diminishing maintenance had left the course increasingly scruffy and bare which in turn drove customers to look for other options.

Some might say it's not a great loss but it was a sporty, inexpensive short course option.

Here are links to the AZ Republic articles:

May 2 Closure announcement:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/20130502ahwatukee-lakes-golf-course-close-monday.html

June 18 Follow-up - Neighbors upset:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/20130614ahwatukee-lakes-golf-club-an-eyesore-nearby-residents-say.html

Photo slide show:
http://www.azcentral.com/photo/Community/Ahwatukee/25677

[Terry Lavin]

How did you beat Shaffer to this?  Utterly impressed.

[Tom Yost]

How did you beat Shaffer to this?  Utterly impressed.

Ha ha, that's a really good question!  Maybe his internet is down?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

@ Tom & Terry,

Unbelievable that I missed this but if I did see it, perhaps I figured that it was not newsworthy here on GCA because it's not a Doak, C&C or Hanse. 

 

[Matthew Petersen]

It is kind of a shame when a community loses this sort of course.

I live on the opposite end of the valley and am not generally inclined to drive all the way down there even for Foothills or Club West, so I'd certainly never played the Lakes. Nonetheless, I'm sure it was a pleasant place for some mebers of the community to spend some time and introduce people to the game.

I used to live in an apartment just a few steps away from this sort of executive course (it was called El Caro). When my wife was learning how to play we went around it a few times. It closed a number of years ago and left several of the same issues--an urban golf course unmaintained really gets ugly in a hurry in this climate. It's only been within the past year or so that some of that land has started to be re-developed.

Such is the state of the industry, I suppose. But how are new people going to be brought into the game without the courses where they can best learn?

[Mark Smolens]

Matthew, they were apparently in front of our three groups at Palmira in St. John, IN on Saturday afternoon  . 2 hours and 50 minutes to play the front, and 1:35 on the back. I agree completely with your assessment that we need the Ahwatukees of the world for people to get a chance to learn the game without driving the rest of us completely batshit out there. . .

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Bill Huffman writes with quotes from Gary Panks who designed the course:

http://www.azgolf.org/index.php/news/detail/cat/bill_huffman_speaks_out/ahwatukee_lakes_closes_its_doors_after_35_years

[Tom Yost]

Some follow-up articles:

Seems the neighbors are ready to sue, claiming the CC&R documents specify the property must remain a golf course.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/20131023pulte-confirms-ahwatukee-lakes-golf-club-escrow.html

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/20131106ahwatukee-lakes-owner-claims-responsibility-barb-wire-fence.html

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Update:


http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/ahwatukee/2016/08/15/phoenix-golf-course-eyed-100-acre-ahwatukee-farms-development/88411720/

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Homeowners win! Course may reopen but it's complicated:


Hannah's ruling was a huge win for the homeowners who've fought with the golf course owners for years, but it's in no way the final battle.
]In his ruling, Hannah said the homeowners are entitled to some kind of relief, but what exactly that will include is still to be determined.
The homeowners said theywill ask True Life to restore the golf course to its former glory, but Hannah will ultimately make the decision.
“We look forward to this decision helping us to renew our landscape and heal the scars in our community from this conflict," Ben Holt, president of Save the Lakes/Save Open Space, said in a statement.
But there's another wrinkle. True Life may not be the owner of the golf course for much longer. When it purchased the property from Bixby in 2015, the company paid only a $750,000 down payment on the $9 million purchase price. 
The rest was due in increments down the road — but the purchase agreement also allowed True Life to walk away at any point without paying the remainder, which it still could do, according to court documents.


https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2018/01/06/neighbors-score-win-ahwatukee-golf-course-court-battle/1005138001/

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Update:


Ahwatukee neighbors win again in golf course development battle

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/ahwatukee/2019/09/19/ahwatukee-neighbors-fought-golf-course-development-and-won-again/2380251001/

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Another never ending case: Lawyers give conflicting views of Lakes Course restoration progress


https://www.ahwatukee.com/news/article_7b5e4236-2068-11ec-a800-dfa0d5175f77.html

[Steve_ Shaffer]

9 holes to open by Thanksgiving?




https://www.ahwatukee.com/news/article_f396ce36-2afd-11ec-9e38-1fc85112d020.html

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Oops...lawyers battle over costs to restore:


Great pic for the article....






https://www.ahwatukee.com/news/article_8d763f12-367c-11ec-8da3-1bdbfa9810a7.html

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Club West HOA nixes appeal in Conservancy’s suit

The Foothills Club West Association board unanimously decided last week not to appeal a Superior Court ruling that its predecessor improperly acquired the declarant rights to the golf course that could determine the embattled site’s future.
Board members told homeowners last Thursday that, essentially, the decision was a no brainer because their insurer refused to pay the costs of any further litigation by the board and because the HOA would have to post a $10 million bond to carry on the appeal.
That $10 million is the current appraised value of the 165-acre golf course.
The golf course’s future now could be determined by the Conservancy’s new lawsuit against The Edge and Shea Homes that claims, among other things, using the site for anything but golf violates the contracts homeowners signed when they bought houses in Club West.
The suit also alleges that Shea Homes might not even have acquired the course’s declarant rights when it acquired UDC Homes, Club West’s original developer.
“UDC Homes originally created the CC&Rs for the golf course in 1993 which included a stipulation that the land can only be used as a golf course and included Declarant Rights,” the Conservancy said in a statement last week about its lawsuit.






https://www.ahwatukee.com/news/article_3b4c0cc8-5d17-11ec-aa8d-c3d83e7c0913.html

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Ahwatukee Lakes residents are closing out the year with a sight they haven’t laid eyes on in eight years – grass on half of the 18-hole golf course.
But owner Wilson Gee said his company, ALCR, couldn’t make good on its promise to have nine holes open for play by the end of November because city and state agencies have been dragging their heels on his permits for the mobile clubhouse bathroom.
“We need a permit from the city and from the state,” Gee said. “Basically everything is built. I have no idea why the delay. We’ve been waiting just for the roof of the bathroom, which is not more than 20 square feet and we’re waiting three months.”







https://www.ahwatukee.com/news/article_9531ec32-6864-11ec-910e-cf0b70d8b407.html

[Steve_ Shaffer]

And the beat goes on:


Put up $500K, judge orders Lakes Course owner

The company that owns Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course must post $500,000 with the courts so that a special master can oversee its restoration, a Superior Court judge ruled late Jan. 18.[/size]The ruling by Judge Sarah Agne invokes the first of three contempt of court sanctions that another judge in November 2020 had imposed after finding the ALCR LLC in contempt of court for ignoring yet another judge’s 2018 ordering that the 18-hole executive golf course be restored.[/size]Wilson Gee, a principal in ALCR and the previous company that owned the course, had closed it in 2013, claiming that it cost him money to keep it open every year since he bought it in 2006.[/size]It was not immediately clear how Agne’s ruling would impact Gee’s plan to reopen part of the course.[/size]And it remains to be seen whether he’ll end up spending far more money than the nearly $800,000 he said he has spent to restore the course.[/size]After the October contempt hearing before Agne ended, Barnes sought permission to introduce testimony from other proceedings in which golf course expert Buddie Johnson put the total restoration cost estimate at $5 million to $6 million and a consultant for one-time course owner The True Life Companies projected a $12 million price tag.




https://www.ahwatukee.com/article_692758aa-792d-11ec-9860-5f4027494b7f.html[/font]