Hampton Golf has re-teamed with an old partner, Ed Burr, to acquire Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Fla., a golf course that it has operated since it opened in 2006. The course sold for $2.2 million, which included the course, amenities, 250 home lots and back taxes.
“It was a very good deal,” said M.G. Orender, president of Hampton Golf, and now a part owner in the course. “We are a third-party management company, but we have done a few partnerships with developers, and would consider additional partnerships so long as it was the right situation.”
Hampton also has ownership in River Hall Country Club in Alva, Fla.
The LandMar Group, a residential developer, teamed with Hampton Golf to develop the Pete Dye golf course in 2006. At that time, Hampton exclusively managed LandMar’s 13 golf courses. Ed Burr, who founded LandMar, was also a co-founder of Hampton Golf.
But LandMar ran into financial problems starting in 2007, and entered into bankruptcy in 2009. Ed Burr left the company and founded GreenPointe Holdings in 2008. He negotiated the acquisition of Southern Hills from his old company to his new one this past fall, and the bankruptcy court approved it. The transaction closed after LandMar exited from bankruptcy.
Orender said the course was originally planned to be a private club, but only 100 homes are currently occupied within the golf course part of the community. Hampton Golf has operated it as a semi-private facility, but hopes it can one day go back to its original business plan.
There are 999 lots within the golf gates of the community, and Orender is hopeful it will just be a matter of time before enough homes make the private club viable.
“The clubhouse looks like an old colonial plantation,” Orender said. “It would be a great private club, but we need the body heat to do that.”
Hampton Golf has also recently added two management contracts — Laughlin Ranch Golf Course in Laughlin, Ariz., and the Golf Club at Summerbrooke in Tallahassee, Fla.
Laughlin Ranch is the company’s first course outside of the Southeast. A financial institution will take over the course at the end of the month and Orender expects to manage it for a long period. The course still has a lot of real estate to sell, and Orender has specialized in managing courses and helping the developers sell lots.
Summerbrooke is a daily fee property without any real estate. It is the company’s 13th course in the Sunshine state.