Sleepy Ridge Golf Course advisory
commission reported that the golf course has lost $1.2 million since opening in
2005. Revenues in 2011 were $900,000, the lowest of any year, and management
has cut all it can to keep the course moving.
"We've hit the mark where we can't
cut any more," Holt said in his report.
Sleepy Ridge is not a public course, nor
is it subsidized. However, the city is involved. Orem provided the land and water usage and Holt and his partner built
the infrastructure and clubhouse to the tune of $12 million. They have a
40-year lease in which Holt can try to recoup his investments rent-free. After
the lease is up the entire course and clubhouse belong to Orem city.
Holt said in 2000, when Sleepy Ridge was
in development, professional golf prognosticators forecasted about 40,000
rounds a year for the new golf course. They said by 2012 the projected revenues
should be at $1.5 million a year. Since that time new golf courses have been
added in Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, Soldier Hollow in
Midway and Lehi’s Thanksgiving Point. Orem's
Cascade Golf Center also added 18 holes.
The initial forecast did not plan for so
many additions to the golf community, and they're taking a toll. The study
showed that one or two new courses wouldn't hurt, but with several communities
hoping to capture money for their general funds through golf courses the market
overloaded.
"We're doing better than
many," Holt said. He added there are only one or two public courses in the
area that are not subsidized.
Two years ago Holt took a trip to
Scotland, the home of golf, and came back with grand ideas for a clubhouse.
"We designed it to look like the majestic clubhouses from Scotland,"
Holt said. Clubhouse revenues through rental fees for activities such as
weddings, dances and other activities plus the leases on office space are
helping to pay for the golf course.
Sleepy Ridge Golf Clubhouse.
Sleepy Ridge Golf
A rock wall lines some of the holes on Orem's Sleepy Ridge Golf Course, which has been in the works for eight years.
Stuart Johnson, Deseret Morning News
According to a story by Sharon Haddock in the Deseret News April 1, 2005, "Sleepy Ridge Golf Course to Open Without Debt.
OREM
— It's taken Orem eight years to get its 18-hole public golf course ready to
open, but when it does — this June — it will open without a penny of taxpayer
debt, say officials.
"What will be great for the city is that we'll have no debt, none,
no encumbrances at all," said Bruce Chesnut, public works director.
"Yet it's within our community as an asset. It's just the opposite of the
Cedar Hill's situation."
Cedar Hills bonded for its $7 million mountainside course, intending to
lease it to recoup the bond costs and then use it as a money making asset for
the city. The leasing company lost its financing and the city is now facing
large yearly bond payments as well as operational costs it didn't anticipate.
As a
result, Cedar Hills officials are considering a number of unwelcome options
including selling the course at a loss, defaulting on the loan and/or imposing
a monthly service fee on each household to help pay off the debt.
Orem officials began
discussing the Sleepy Ridge Golf Course (named after a natural land feature in
the area) in 1997 just after the city netted 176 acres of open ground on the
west side of the city in a land trade with a group of businessmen known as the
ESNET Corp.
Before that, the land was farmed by the Holdaway and Clegg families of
Vineyard.
The trade secured open space for Orem, but it was also problematical as
it contained nearly 50 acres of wetlands that would have to be preserved no
matter how the land was developed.
That meant a lot of negotiations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
and a good deal of paperwork.
Developer Golden Holt wanted to build and run the course, but the city
wanted to retain some control. That meant more discussion.
A
Golf Course Advisory Committee was set up that includes a City Council member,
two city employees, two Orem residents and one of Holt's employees.
The committee will advise and oversee the course operation.
"We finalized the agreements two years ago. The dirt finally
started to move 14 months ago," said Chesnut.
Holt is spending $6.75
million to put in the fairways and greens, the perimeter rock walls, the cart
paths, the clubhouse and the maintenance sheds. He'll then get to run the
course until he's made his investment back. He'll set the green fees, hire the
pro and determine which venues come to the course.
After that, Orem will begin receiving a share of the profits. The city
will also provide the course with reclaimed water from its sewage treatment
plant that will be mixed with irrigation water to irrigate course, one of the
first efforts in Utah County to make use of reclaimed water. The city expects
to dramatically reduce landscaping and maintenance costs for the course by using
the reclaimed water.
Homes and condominiums are being developed around the course, taking
advantage of the scenic vistas and the serenity.
Chesnut is optimistic about
the golf course's future even though some residents are worried about whether
Utah County has saturated the golf market.
"There's lots of interest. We get lots of calls every day. That
market's there," he said. "It's a hidden treasure." Sharon Haddock Deseret News 2005
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