As you may have heard, we are beginning to take formal steps in the project to acquire and relaunch the Stonehenge Golf Club. It’s an exciting opportunity to establish a public-private partnership and to focus our efforts at KEDCo on a transformative quality of place project.
You can find a news release we distributed at the link HERE. I want KEDCo stakeholders to feel confident in their understanding of how the pieces of this project puzzle are put together, so here is a brief overview of the project:
First, we formed an entity called the Kosciusko Community Development Corporation to acquire and hold the Stonehenge real estate. The KCDC will be available to support similar public-private partnerships in Kosciusko County, but we plan to work in the background to facilitate projects that also involve public and private sector partners.
Next, the Town of Winona Lake is developing a revolving loan fund that can commit funds to support the costs of acquiring the Stonehenge real estate. Projections of future property taxes from residential development in the Stonehenge area more than exceed the Town’s commitment to this project. The KCDC will utilize the Town’s commitment to obtain bank financing for the acquisition.
Finally, the KCDC will enter into a lease with an entity to manage the golf course operations, will sell the clubhouse to a developer planning to redevelop the building as multi-tenant space, and will work with the Town to come up with a plan for the pool facility. We cannot forecast the long-term ownership of the real estate, but the KCDC will be available to bridge the gap as long as necessary.
So that’s a quick recap of a project we have been working on for at least the last six months (probably more). Please drop me a line if you would like to chat more about the project or if you have suggestions on tenants for the main floor of the clubhouse building!
– Alan Tio
