Not rich? Hudson County building affordable public golf course in Jersey City

[Randy Thompson]

Three cheers for Hudson Country and all those involved, it´s projects like this that will help golf grow again! Anybody seen it or walked it? Looks interesting! Concept, A+
http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2014/10/not_rich_hudson_county_buildin.html

[jeffwarne]

How exactly will a $20 million nine hole course "pay for itself" with $20 green fees?

Might've been cheaper to buy 40 memberships at Liberty National and have them bring 3 guests each time
or 30 memberships, leaving $5 million for guest fees

[Benjamin Litman]

Jersey City's revitalization has been nothing short of amazing. I lived there for four years and still regret leaving.

Nine-hole courses are what the game needs more of, and northern New Jersey, for all its private-course history, lacks good public options. Given that Lincoln Park is not in Jersey City's best neighborhood, moreover, this is great news for all involved. I hope the First Tee, among others, makes use of the site.

[Randy Thompson]

How exactly will a $20 million nine hole course "pay for itself" with $20 green fees?

Might've been cheaper to buy 40 memberships at Liberty National and have them bring 3 guests each time
or 30 memberships, leaving $5 million for guest fees

Of course we all think this but I would imagine...they have added land value in that area when attaching a 20 million dollar(attention grabbing) price tag. There area was capped with 1.2 million cubic meters of sand dredged from the bay, that probably needed to be dredged anyways and paid to be hauled off and this was a closer sight to dump the material. There is something in there, that spiked up the cost that are not real values. Land was probably donnated. Its pretty difficult to spend 20 million on 55 acres in relation to golf. Marketing and marketers are a different breed, I have done somewhere around 20 courses and have seen some marketing materials that claims I have done 60 and recently saw one that said I was involved with over 200 projects. I guess if you consider reading and looking at a photo tour on this site as being, "involved", then they´re just streching the truth.

[Carl Nichols]

How exactly will a $20 million nine hole course "pay for itself" with $20 green fees?

Might've been cheaper to buy 40 memberships at Liberty National and have them bring 3 guests each time
or 30 memberships, leaving $5 million for guest fees

Perhaps the $20 is for just nine holes (for residents) -- but, even at $40 for 18 holes for residents (and higher for non-residents), still unlikely to "pay for itself" if it truly cost $20 million to build.  My bet is that some of that cost is remediation or other work that might've happened anyway.    

[JMEvensky]

How exactly will a $20 million nine hole course "pay for itself" with $20 green fees?

Ever heard of miners' hats?

[jeffwarne]

How exactly will a $20 million nine hole course "pay for itself" with $20 green fees?

Might've been cheaper to buy 40 memberships at Liberty National and have them bring 3 guests each time
or 30 memberships, leaving $5 million for guest fees

Perhaps the $20 is for just nine holes (for residents) -- but, even at $40 for 18 holes for residents (and higher for non-residents), still unlikely to "pay for itself" if it truly cost $20 million to build.  My bet is that some of that cost is remediation or other work that might've happened anyway.    

Carl,
I'm assuming you're right.
More a question of poorly explained journalism.
I hope?
That said, it would be a tough article to read if you were a financially struggling county resident who didn't play golf.

[Jim_Kennedy]

From Club& Resort Business:

The golf course project coincided with several environmental projects. The state and federal governments want to restore wetlands along the Hackensack River (which runs down the western edge of Jersey City and Lincoln Park), and hoped to do environmental remediation on a former unofficial dump. The golf course project became tied in with the cleanup, and often worked side by side, sometimes even sharing some of the same resources. Some of the muck dug up from the wetlands became useful as fill for the golf course—though the course needed a lot more clean fill once the debris was removed, the Reporter reported.

The junk included everything from auto parts of old refrigerators. And asked if workers ever found the remains of former labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, rumored to be buried in a landfill near the Pulaski Skyway, Guerra laughed. “No, but we did find some bones. These turned out to be an animal’s, not human,” the Reporter reported.

Delayed by a number of factors, not least Super Storm Sandy in late 2012, the course got a number of lucky breaks that will likely allow it to open by early summer 2015. Located in Lincoln Park West, the course is being constructed on approximately 60 acres of underutilized land. Started in 2010, the project was originally slated to take 18 to 24 months to complete, the Reporter reported.

The Lincoln Park Wetlands Restoration Project along the proposed new course’s south border was significantly impacted by tidal flooding associated with Sandy. So was the proposed capping of a former landfill, the Reporter reported.

The project was to have been completed in 2012. After Sandy flooded the golf course location and the nearby environmental mitigation site, the HCIA decided to increase the height of the golf course to avoid flooding from future storms. So far, more than 1 million cubic yards of soil have been delivered to the golf course site, the Reporter reported.

Along the riverside of the golf course is a public walkway that connects the main part of Lincoln Park, and will eventually when the permanent clubhouse is constructed, continue along the shore of the Hackensack River going north, the Reporter reported.

[archie_struthers]

 


$20.000,000 for a nine hole public entity that doesn't pay taxes , will lose money and no doubt cost the taxpayers isn't a good thing in my book , even though I truly love golf , wonder how many politically connected engineers, lawyers and construction companies profited on this one .  

Yikes

[Scott Weersing]

Lester George built a nine hole golf course in Norfolk, VA for less than 20 million dollars.

Lambert's Point is a nine hole golf course but it is also a solid waste mitigation plan. It was built atop a top a dump.

Many of the greens are right next to the Elizabeth River. I wondered, how did they get permission to build the greens so close to the water? Well, because solid waste was falling into the river, the city wanted a solid waste mitigation plan. It could be rocks or it could be a putting green instead.

After one of the hurricanes, they did have to add more rocks so that the course did not fall back into the river.

http://www.golfcourseindustry.com/gci-032006-builders-excellence-awards-lamberts-point.aspx