If everything works out as planned, the city of Arnold will own the Pomme Creek Golf Course in Arnold next year, with plans to continue operating a golf course at the site.
City officials have entered into an option agreement with Arnold businessman Dan Jones that would allow the city to buy the 118-acre property for $3.25 million.
The city has paid Jones a $1,000 deposit, which is refundable if the city officials decide by Jan. 1 that they don’t want to buy the golf course, which is off Jeffco Boulevard south of City Hall.
Arnold Mayer Mark Powell said he’s not sure how the city would finance the $3.25 million, but two possibilities would be a lease-purchase or a loan.
He said the city probably wouldn’t ask for a tax increase to pay for the property because the golf course would generate enough revenue to cover payments on the debt.
Powell said he couldn’t report how much money the golf course makes because it’s a private business, but he said it is profitable.
“From a preliminary review of the financials, it looks like there would be enough revenue from the golf course to cover the cost (of buying it),” Powell said. “That appears to be the case now, but we haven’t finished our financial analysis. We’ve got to look at insurance cost, flood insurance and all the costs associated with it.”
Powell said he believes the city will be able to work out a way to buy the golf course.
“I’m very optimistic that the numbers will work, but we’ll have to assess further the good this will do the community through the public-hearing process,” he said. “But, I’m excited about it. It’s a rare opportunity.”
Powell said the city will hold a public hearing sometime at the end of July to get feedback and another one in August.
“The one at the end of July would be at the golf course so residents can see what we’re considering purchasing,” he said. “The second would be at City Hall. I want to make sure the City Council receives as much input as they need from the public.”
Powell said the property is valuable.
“Only 32 acres of it are in the flood plain, which really gives us a lot of acreage we would control. That’s similar to Strawberry Creek (Nature Area) in size, and the location is good,” he said. “There are very few tracts that size in the city of Arnold available. There are probably two, and we own one (Strawberry Creek) and are looking to buy the other.”
Jones bought the golf course in December 2005 from Rick and Paula Meyer, who have been leasing and operating it ever since, Jones said.
He would not say how much he paid for the property, but he said he could make a lot more money if he sold it to someone for residential development.
“I recently sold property in Arnold for $50,000 an acre for residential development, and I know some property in the city that has sold as high as $70,000 an acre,” Jones said. Also, the city of Arnold toyed around with this idea (buying the golf course) about three years ago and the asking price then was a little over $4 million. This is $1 million less than that, and the number of rounds of golf hasn’t decreased.”
He said the golf course sold about 23,000 rounds of golf over the last year.
Powell said the price Jones is asking is a good one.
“I think that’s a very fair price for that large a tract of ground,” Powell said. “The city paid $1 million for 20 acres for the rec center (on Old Missouri State Road at Astra Way), and this is six times the amount of ground for three and a half times the price.”
Jones is a CPA and owns the Daniel Jones and Associates accounting firm in Arnold. He owns a real estate development company called Meland Properties LLC. Also, he is chairman, president and CEO of Fortune Financial corp., the company that operates the Fortune Investment Group and Fortune Insurance.
He said he would like to see the property remain a golf course, rather than a residential development.
“I would like to know my children and grandchildren, if I’m so blessed to have grandchildren in the future, could play golf at Pomme Golf course someday and talk about their dad having a little something to do with it staying a golf course, he said. “It’s important to leave legacies for young children, especially my own. I want to show them that not everything is about how much money you can make, but how much good you can do with it. I can see no good reason to develop it into houses. I think it’s better to leave it parklike.”
Powell said the property would be a wise investment for the city.
“The prime benefit is it gives us a tremendous asset that receives a lot of usage form the public,” he said. “There were 23,000 rounds of golf on it this past year. That’s 23,000 people on that golf course. That’s a lot of entertainment for the community.”
Powell also said it’s a tourist attraction. “Many municipalities operate golf courses,” he said. “The city Matt Unrein (the new city administrator) came from, Maryville, owns a golf course.”
If the city buys the property, it would remain a golf course, Powell said.
“We would control it, but it would be my intention to keep it as a golf course.”
Powell said Jones approached him about the possibility of the city buying the golf course.
“I had a conversation several months ago with Dan Jones, when he indicated that he owned the ground and had purchased it for development, but personally felt it was better in our community as a golf course, rather than a residential development,” Powell said. “We met a number of times and discussed the opportunity, and they agreed to continue reviewing it.”
The council voted 7-0 in a June 15 closed meeting to offer Jones the option contract. Ward 2 Councilman Dave Venable was absent.
Jones said he would still own 7 acres of the current golf course property along Jeffco opposite City Hall if the city buys the 118 acres. He plans to use or sell that for commercial development.
If the city doesn’t buy the 118 acres, Jones will sell it for residential development, he said.
“I would go to my plan I started out with and get it rezoned and build houses on it,” he said.
Previously, Jones had bought 12 acres that had been part of Pomme Creek and sold it to the development firm Dean Homes, which is building multi-family villas on it. The development is called Palmer Place.
Jones said he has enjoyed working with the city on the deal.
“I appreciate the way the City Council has dealt with me in a straightforward manner,” he said. “Arnold has a progressive-minded council, and the city will benefit because of the council and the mayor.”