Three Oro Valley Golf Deals that will have you Taking to the Greens for the Holidays

Tucson-based HSL closed Friday on Tucson’s largest golf resort, the El Conquistador Golf Resort, for $15 million. HSL intends on retaining the 313,857-square-foot Hilton resort that sits on about 55 acres and spin off the 45-hole Oro Valley golf course with approximately 296 acres, a 31,475-square-foot club house, 31 tennis courts, two pools, a fitness center and restaurant, for $1 million to the Town of Oro Valley to reinvent as a public rec center.

The seller was Met Life, the lender who had taken it back from Florida-based, CHH Tucson Partnership in December 2012 for $69 million.

Troon Golf has already taken over management of the golf courses since the deal closed, and forecasts the golfing operation to break even in about four years. In total, the golf course will need about $8 million in its first five years of operation to overcome financial hurdles in bringing it back: $3 million in improvements to the golf courses, $2.5 in operational deficits and $2.5 million in improvements to the facilities.

At its December 17 meeting, the Oro Valley Council approved the purchase and the half-cent tax increase in a 4:3 vote. Since then a group of citizens have filed an application for referendum petition that needs 1,000 signatures to overturn that vote and bring it to a vote by the electorate.

Others in Oro Valley are surprised by the protest to such a deal.

Members of the Oro Valley Country Club received notice that Dallas-based ClubCorp (NYSE: MYCC) has acquired the Oro Valley Country Club at 300 West Greenock Drive in Oro Valley for $2.9 million ($93 PSF). ClubCorp, a world leader in private clubs plans a million-dollar reinvention project that will include improvements to the golf course, clubhouse and outdoor patio.

Oro Valley’s 28,000-square-foot clubhouse features a grill, men’s and women’s card room, state-of-the-art fitness center, a 3,200-square-foot ballroom offering stunning views of the mountains and golf course and an additional 6,000 feet of outdoor covered space and the 18-hole golf course on 123 acres.

The addition of Oro Valley continues the rapid expansion of ClubCorp’s overall portfolio of owned and operated clubs, which has increased by 35% since the company’s IPO in September 2013. ClubCorp’s portfolio of owned and operated clubs now stands at over 200 clubs in 26 states, the District of Columbia, Mexico and China.

Then in yet a third transaction, the former temporary golf club at Stone Canyon, 405 W Tortolita Mountain Circle in Oro Valley sold for $1.1 million ($274 PSF). The buyer was a company formed by David Williamson of Fairfield Homes who purchased it for continued use as a sales center for Fairfield’s Premier at Stone Canyon.

The Stone Canyon Club was purchased out of bankruptcy last year by Phil Mickelson and partners in management, M Club, who celebrated the official grand opening of The Stone Canyon Golf Club under new management this past November. The group is planning construction of a new $4 million club house to begin in January 2015, we were told. The 18-hole Stone Canyon Club first opened in 2000 and ranks in the Top 100 courses in the United States.

Elsewhere in Arizona, the Mickelson group owns the McDowell Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, the Palm Valley Golf Club in Litchfield Park, and the Rim Golf Club and Chaparral Pines, both in Payson.