CourseCo beat out two of the world’s largest firms, KemperSports and Billy Casper Golf, to operate the Juniper Golf Course for the city of Redmond, Ore.
Tom Isaak took over as the new on-site manager on Feb. 1. City Manager David Brandt felt that CourseCo specialization in managing municipal golf courses for cities for an annual fee was more in line with the management style the city was looking for and offered the best chance of increasing the course’s annual revenue to $2.4 million from recent levels in the $1.7 to $1.8 million range. The city is hopeful the course will become a profit center after being run by a nonprofit group that leased the course from the city for 23 years. Redmond eventually hopes course revenue can reach $2.8 million.
The latest renovations left the city with an annual debt service of $460,000 for the course. The city of Redmond awarded CourseCo a five-year contract with a base fee of $95,000 per year, which will increase to $115,000 in the third year. CourseCo also will receive 15 percent over $2.4 million in revenue and 25 percent when revenue exceeds $2.8 million. The incentives could push the value of CourseCo.’s contract to $130,000. KemperSports’ bid offered a base fee of $90,000 with incentives potentially pushing total compensation to $121,000. Billy Casper’s base management fee started at $85,000 and incentives could take it’s total contract to $145,000. Juniper Golf Course opened in 1952 as a nine-hole facility before being expanded to 18 holes in 1987.