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Neighborhood residents come to rescue, buy Heather Ridge Country Club
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Heather Ridge Country Club was recently purchased by neighborhood residents' metro tax district.
Thanks to more than 1,000 Aurora homeowners, Heather Ridge Country Club has been rescued from being bulldozed over and used for development of more residences.
KCNC-Channel 4 reported on Wednesday 86 percent of the 1,127 homeowners in the Heather Ridge Metropolitan District (created by the United Associations of Heather Ridge or UAHR) voted to buy the 18-hole golf course. Errol Rowland, president of the district, told CBS4's Paul Day the members agreed to buy the course and tax themselves $5.2 million.
The 85-acre Heather Ridge course designed by renowned golf architect Dick Phelps opened in 1973. Located less than a mile west of Interstate 225 on Iliff Avenue in Aurora, Heather Ridge in its heyday was a mecca for country club members who enjoyed the many amenities of the club -- including the course, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and lounges, a large fitness center and locker room facilities.
Owner and club president Richard Jorgenson committed suicide on July 30, 2008 and the club was put into a court-ordered receivership when the club went into foreclosure. According to a Web posting by Realtor Van Lewis more than a month after Jorgenson's death, Cordes and Company was appointed the receivership company to operate the golf course. Merchants Mortgage & Trust holds a $3.275M note from D&G Golf dated October 31, 2007 secured by the country club.
Jorgenson purchased the club for $2.7 million 2002 from American Golf Corporation, which had let the course become run down. Jorgenson sold Heather Ridge's five-acre racquet-tennis building land for $850,000, which was developed into the Country Club Ridge condominiums. Jorgensen then put the entire country club land on the block, with a listed sales price of $6.4 million.
UAHR formed in the spring of 2005 and filed to form a metro tax district in 2006. That set the eventual purchase of the country club into motion.
"It's exciting to me because we've put a lot of work in on this," Ed Oswald told Channel 4. Oswald is assistant secretary of the UAHR board.
Membership -- divided between golf and social-club members -- has dwindled over the years. Amid talk of 3,000 apartment units being built to replace the course, neighborhood residents took action to hold off development and maintain the golf course.
The par-70, 6,075-yard course is a tight layout with many holes in the 300-365-yard range. There are only two par-5s on the course, four par-3s and 12 par-4s, all but two of those less than 364 yards from the back tees (No. 2 and the finishing 18th hole).
The country club opened to the public after it went into foreclosure and remains open to public play. Rates listed on the UAHR Web site are very reasonable ($28 Friday-Sunday and $22 Monday-Thursday for non-residents).
A source told me a couple of months ago Stacey Hart, owner of Deer Creek Golf Club in Littleton and Plum Creek Golf and Country Club in Castle Rock, might be interested in purchased Heather Ridge. Nothing came of Hart's interest apparently, either because of a lagging economy or the residents' increasing interest in the property.
The city of Aurora, which already owns seven golf courses, had been asked to step in as a buyer. But Aurora wasn't in a financial position to save the club, especially with the economy in the tank.
The purchase by the neighborhood association bodes well for the course and maintaining property values.
The course was in reasonable shape when I played it this past summer. The fairways needed mowing and the tee boxes were not in great shape. Locker room and fitness facilities need a lot of work and the outdoor pool was out of commission. Well-known area restaurateur Dimitri took over the kitchen and bar, so that was welcome news for the members and area residents.
The UAHR promises improvements to the course and the club with its investment. Delivering on that promised will not be an easy or simple task, but at least this appears to be a good start for a course that holds a lot of promise for golfers in east Denver and Aurora.
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