Land swap approved for golf course

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004 | 8:19 a.m.

Fore!

Henderson has a city golf course at last.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a land swap and rezonings tied to the deal that makes the Wildhorse Golf Course Henderson's first city-owned course, and lets it open for business today.

Councilman Andy Hafen cast the only votes against the deal. Hafen said he thinks an appraisal of the golf course overvalued the property, and wanted a less dense residential zoning for one of the vacant pieces of property the city traded for the golf course.

Under the approved transaction, the city trades roughly 126 acres of vacant land to Wildhorse Enterprises for the 137.8-acre golf course plus $5.8 million.

Also, the council changed to residential the zoning designations on the city-owned land included in the deal.

Wildhorse Enterprises is a partnership of The Walters Group, headed by Las Vegas golf course owner Billy Walters, and American Nevada Co., which is owned by the Greenspun family, which also publishes the Las Vegas Sun.

Hafen said that while he doesn't know how much the golf course is worth, he feels it less than the $34.4 million the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers appraised it for.

Wildhorse Enterprises purchased the golf course at 2100 W. Warm Springs Road in January for $9.35 million, according to Clark County assessor's office records.

Wildhorse Enterprises representatives have also said they spent millions improving the course -- though they have refused to say exactly how much they invested -- and that the purchase price did not include the cost of equipment, such as golf carts.

Hafen also said he wanted to see if the city-owned land might have been worth more than the value it was given for the trade.

The city land was appraised at $40.2 million. Hafen suggested auctioning off the property, but the other council members opted to go ahead with the land swap.

"It appears the council is so desperate for a golf course they are willing to overpay for one," Hafen said.

Preliminary development plans for the land the city traded to Wildhorse Enterprises show that 272 homes would be built on 60.1 acres in the Whitney Mesa neighborhood near Sunset Road and Arroyo Grande Boulevard. Another 313 homes would be built on 66.1 acres along Horizon Ridge Parkway east of Gibson Road.

To accommodate those developments, the council approved several rezonings to give the traded vacant land residential zoning designations.

Hafen said he voted against the rezoning for the Whitney Mesa land because he wanted a less dense residential development there.

Other council members have defended the deal in the past.

Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers said residents have overwhelmingly supported the deal, sending the council members one petition with about 350 signatures, another with about 100 signatures, and dozens of e-mails all in support of the deal.

Mayor Jim Gibson and Councilmen Steven Kirk and Jack Clark have said the deal will help the neighborhood around Wildhorse, because it means it won't have a vacant business in the middle of it. The neighborhoods around the city land involved in the deal will also benefit, they said, because detached single-family homes will be built there and not the apartment buildings or condominiums.

They also said that any profit the private group makes from this deal is thanks to their good timing and willingness to take a risk and buy Wildhorse, and noted that the city also saw its land jump in value.

In 1999 the city paid roughly $90,000 an acre for a large parcel that included the 60 acres off Sunset and Arroyo Grande. The city purchased the other parcel from the federal government in 1969 for about $30,000.

The city is expected to lose $176,000 on the golf course through June 30, then turn a profit of $215,000 during the following 12 months.

The Wildhorse course, which has been closed since February, will open today and offer a relatively inexpensive round of golf for locals.