By: Las Vegas Now Staff
A fight between the future and the past is going on in Las Vegas. A local company is trying to make the Las Vegas National Golf Course profitable, but to do it may mean putting together a plan to turn the property into housing.
It sounds like a not in my backyard kind of story, at first. Only this time, the developer and the neighbors are on the same page — everyone wants to keep the golf course. But in this tough economic time, businesses have to adapt or die, and golf courses are no different.
The calm serenity of Las Vegas National Golf Club is now being drowned out by promises and suspicions.
David Caldwell is one of the handful of neighbors upset over the possibility their million dollar view could change, “When you look at the economics of what they're up against, they bought it to develop it and turn into housing and make a profit.”
His anger is directed at one man: John Knott, the operator of Las Vegas National, “If you look out on the long term, this golf course will be a treasured possession.”
Knott understands their frustrations. The financial forecasts for golf courses are, as he puts it, “very difficult.” His group bought the course for $38.5 million just last August. Since then, “Fertilizer going up. The petroleum costs associated with the maintenance on the golf course is going up. Labor's gone up.”
And high-flying tourist golfers aren't showing up, “It's harder to fill up your golf course on the tee sheet every day.”
The course and clubhouse need major upgrades to attract premium greens fees. High end clients mean high end payback. And that $38 million investment may have been too high a price to begin with.
“Certainly as a golf course alone, it's not worth that much,” he said.
Enter the housing plan and Knott's conditional promise. He is going to submit a map for a potential housing development. He claims he won't build, but he needs to prove to Wall Street he could build and turn a profit.
Knott hopes they will fund the proposal so he can use the money on making the golf course succeed, “We are doing that to simply protect our investment. We have no plan to build.”
It may be a last ditch plan to save the course, even if neighbor Brenda Hitchins questions Knott's motives, “To make it successful, you've got to put the work into it, you've got to put the demand into it, you've got to have a business plan.”
While they may be on different sides of the fence, everyone wants National to stay.
“If the golf course can be successful, it'll stay a golf course,” said Knott.
And until Knott's promises become reality, neighbors will keep their calm serenity and their suspicions.
Knott says the refurbished clubhouse restaurant would need to clear $3 to $4 million a year. No word on when that housing plan will be submitted.
Email your comments to Investigative Reporter Jonathan Humbert
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