Do you know of courses built in or surrounded by office parks?
My former club, Commonwealth National in Horsham,PA, has 5 office buildings interspaced /adjacent to the course. Some of the buildings come into play on poorly hit shots. Buildings are on the left side of the 6th and 7th holes, both 4 pars. While playing in a four ball match, one of my opponents, a long hitter, hit his drive on the 6th hole, a dog left left, over the building onto the apron in front of the green. He chipped long and couldn't make par. My par won the hole. On the 7th hole, a short straight away 4 par, I pulled my tee shot left onto the roof of the building. The ball bounced back onto the fairway. I then took my trusty 7metal and hit the green,5 feet from the hole and made the putt for a bird.
Reading this article in today's Arizona Republic, prompted me to pose my question.
Steve
Twist on a golf development
Business park will be built around Longbow-
www.longbowgolf.comGlen Creno
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 17, 2003 12:00 AM
Golf courses typically are built amid housing projects in the Valley, but a developer is breaking the mold by planning to surround a Mesa course with a massive business park.
Daedalus Real Estate Advisors is planning the 1.8 million-square-foot Longbow Business Park and Golf Club near the Falcon Field airport and the Boeing Co.'s plant in north Mesa. The 330-acre site includes the 160-acre Longbow Golf Club bought for $7.3 million from aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
Daedalus expects to use the course as the core of an estimated $180 million combination of office, light-industrial space and retail. The project, which should break ground sometime next year pending city approvals, also could feature a business hotel.
Daedalus pumped an undisclosed amount of money into expanding the golf course and moving the clubhouse. It expects to keep the course, named for the military helicopters built nearby, open to the public and hold greens fees to under $100.
Golf gives the business park an extra attraction for the employees who will work there but also serves a more basic function: It's designed to serve as the retention and drainage system for the site.
"It's unusual for this Valley," Daedalus owner Robert McNichols said. "It's the first project I know of that's dedicated exclusively to the use of golf and business together."
Daedalus is planning about 700,000 square feet of office, 600,000 feet of light industrial and an additional 500,000 feet of mixed-use space, a combination of office, retail and entertainment. McNichols said the north Mesa area has the best demographics, "plenty of high-end disposable income," outside of Scottsdale and about 250,000 people who lack so-called lifestyle retail, restaurants and entertainment that have migrated to other East Valley nightlife and shopping hubs.