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twittereconomy:
Judge approves bankruptcy for Lake Las Vegas golf course
Reflection Bay, resort’s last public course, to close on Tuesday
Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun
Reflection Bay Golf Course at Lake Las Vegas.
Monday, June 29, 2009 | 1:11 p.m.
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Beyond the Sun
Map of Lake Las Vegas Resort
Lake Las Vegas Resort
1600 Lake Las Vegas Pkway, Henderson
Lake Las Vegas will close its second and last public golf course, Reflection Bay, tomorrow after a federal bankruptcy judge granted permission this morning to do so.
The move will leave the troubled resort with just one golf course, the private SouthShore Golf Club.
After a brief hearing that drew no objections, Judge Linda B. Riegle ruled that “there is no equity left in (Reflection Bay) and it is, in fact, a burden,” thereby meeting the legal requirements for Lake Las Vegas to abandon the course and allow it to enter foreclosure as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.
Riegle also gave the resort until July 17 to file its bankruptcy plan, which is the document that shows how it plans to work its way out of bankruptcy.
It is the sixth time the plan’s due date has been extended. Attorneys for Lake Las Vegas said the plan is the subject of ongoing negotiations with the resort’s creditors, and cautioned that they may request a seventh extension next month.
Lake Las Vegas, which has been going through bankruptcy reorganization since July 2008, will keep a skeleton crew at Reflection Bay to maintain it and count inventory until July 9, when creditor Carmel Land and Cattle Co. is scheduled to foreclose on it.
Like the resort’s other foreclosed course, The Falls, the fate of Reflection Bay remains up in the air. It is not known how long the course will sit vacant and, if it is bought, whether it will be re-opened as a golf course or plowed under for other development.
Today’s hearing was starkly different from an earlier request to abandon The Falls, for which Carmel was also the primary lender. That request drew objections from several of the creditors involved in the proceedings, who said the course still had value and its abandonment would hurt the resort’s chances for recovery.
The Falls’ request required two extensive hearings and dozens of filings before Riegle gave the resort permission to abandon the course. Attorneys representing the creditors’ committee -- the group of companies and lenders that are owed money by the resort -- declined to comment on why they didn’t oppose the Reflection Bay abandonment.
Court filings, however, shed some light on the subject. Carmel has made four cash loans to Lake Las Vegas since July just to keep Reflection Bay in operation. Those loans, plus the original loan amount for the course’s construction, have left Lake Las Vegas almost $28.4 million in debt to Carmel for Reflection Bay, resort attorneys said. While they didn’t offer an estimate of the course’s value in court documents, they stated that its value is “substantially less” than $28.4 million.
Operating reports for Lake Las Vegas show that the resort lost $11.5 million in May, and has lost $60.7 million overall since filing for bankruptcy.
In addition, Reflection Bay is located in Lake Las Vegas’ interior, whereas The Falls is located along the resort’s gateway, Lake Las Vegas Parkway. Some creditors who argued against abandonment of The Falls said that if the course deteriorated, it would hurt the resort’s appearance and further decrease home sales and tourism.
Carmel has maintained The Falls, but it has not been re-opened for play. On Friday afternoon at the resort, two workers were making their way through The Falls, trimming and watering the course. Up the road at Reflection Bay, there was a tense quiet as employees braced for today’s hearing to find out if they would be laid off on Tuesday.
Out on the course, a few foursomes and a couple pairs were making their way through the course that was once the site of the Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge. Inside the clubhouse, two groups were having lunch in the cafe near a trophy case containing reminders of when times were better at the resort -- including autographed memorabilia from the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam.
One resort employee, who asked not to be identified, said Reflection Bay had 100 players on Friday -- an amount that under different circumstances might have been a good sign.
“I think we just got caught up in the big picture of what’s going on with the resort as a whole,” the employee said.
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Foooore!!!
They were so snotty out there. Whether the real estate people or the golf people or the casino people. Who would want to go out there and be treated like dirt. Could not happen to a better business. What goes around comes around, you deserve to go out of business. I hope the EPA looks at pollution issues as well.
Too bad, exceptionally nice course, hope it reopens with lower green fees for locals.
I wonder if Natalie Gulbis will now be leaving Las Vegas.
In the front section of Sunday's LVRJ, at page 5, there was an ad by Pardee, promoting its Lake Las Vegas new home development called Bella Fiore. The advertisement had both a lush green photo and text about The Falls Golf Course.
Yet, as repeatedly reported by both the Sun and the LVRJ, The Falls Golf Course has been foreclosed and it is closed.
So what should anyone make of Sunday's ad by Pardee highlighting Bella Fiore's existence on The Falls Golf Course?
Has Pardee made a deal with the lender who foreclosed to re-open the golf course?
In the alternative, did the people who put together the ad for Bella Fiore featuring The Falls simply screw up?
Last time I heard Pardee has senior management officials here in Las Vegas, plus top management at its parent company Weyerhaeuser, in Washington or Oregon, so if it was a screw up, which office is responsible?
Cynical is right on, as usual. What I can't figure out is why Carmel Land is still watering the Falls Golf Course. Yes, it's at the entrance, but so what? It's on the left side of the entrance, but on the right are massive stripped hills, plain dirt, that will never have homes or anything else for many years, if ever. So we waste water to keep about 200 homeowners happy? Oh, that's right, 35 of them are already in foreclosure. Do the math. It was estimated in the BK filing that it cost 1 to 2 million a year to water the Falls. So now it's shut, but we keep wasting water-for what? Oh that's right, it's so you have the privilege of paying $1,200 a month in HOA fees for your house which has lost at least half its value...
Are you telling me that the only profitable golf course at LLV is the private one. What a concept privatization better than government controll
You have to keep the water on and the grass growing. They are the only green shoots Obama has seen in the economy and we don't want him to face reality. That's for the rest of us.
Dream on everyone. Wake up and smell the freshly cut golf course grass! Lake Las Vegas isn't going anywhere. They keep watering the courses as they will be sold in the next few weeks. The City of Henderson will not change the zoning to anything other than a golf course. PS: the HOA dues on foreclosed homes are still being paid by the banks that approved many loans that got them in this mess in the first place.
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If you read between the lines, what's going on with these golf courses is no different than everything else in this economy. When you pay too much for something, especially during the real estate bubble, you can't sustain the payments. So, what happens? You walk away from your home, let the bank take the loss. Then, someone else comes in and buys it for less. Guess what happens now? Hmm... the new owner can afford the payment, the grass gets watered, you can charge a lower prices and things will be on track and re-positioned again. This is occuring in the hotel industry across the country as well. NOT, just in Lake Las Vegs.
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Overpriced mortgages on hotels, homes, golf courses, it all ends up the same. It's called re-positioning.
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I wish Lake Las Vegas, the village and the golf courses much success in the future. Instead of everyone complaining about something that isn't going away, why not try a different approach. Go out there, enjoy a movie under the stars, rent a boat with your kids/family, take a dinner cruise on the Contessa. Where else in the desert can you take a dinner cruise? How fantastic is that!
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Life doesn't have always be gloom and doom, only if you want to it to be.
If they're going to keep maintaining The Falls, why bother to close it? Is it really that expensive to have the staff to handle golfers? I would have thought the maintenance itself was the big cost in running a golf course.
I played the falls once at $275 a few years back and Reflection several times at $125 as a Canadian tourist. Lake Las Vegas is a very nice area for tourists that want to take a break from the strip and see a diffrent kind of Vegas. The folks at Reflection were nice eonough but the Falls was a joke and I couldnt fiqure out how they would make it . We had to clean our own clubs after a $275 buck round and the golf course wasnt in good shape or worth the money. If someone bought them both and could make them work together at $80 to $100 .With some reasonable priced rental accomadation I think they would work fine. I agree with Bouiver reposition and get going before you loose a great amenity for your city. It relects badly on Vegas if this area is not maintaned in my mind.
Top Twelve Indicators That The Economy Is Bad
12. CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
11. You get pre-declined credit cards in the mail.
10. You go to buy a toaster oven and they sell you a bank instead.
9. Hot wheels and Matchbox car companies are now trading higher than GM in the stock market.
8. Obama met with small businesses - GE, Pfizer, Chrysler, Citigroup and GM, to discuss the Stimulus Package.
7. McDonalds is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
6. People in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and are learning their children's names.
5. The highest-paid job is now jury duty.
4. People in Africa are donating money to Americans. Mothers in Ethiopia are telling their kids, "finish your plate; do you know how many kids are starving in America?"
3. Motel Six won't leave the lights on.
2. The Mafia is laying off judges.
And the # 1 indicator that the economy is bad is...
1. If the bank returns your check marked as "insufficient funds," you have to call them and ask if they meant you or them.
Great post by Bouvier ! Truth hurts
The City of Henderson and anyone else would be committing financial suicide by maintaining this golf course.
Let the grass die for the next three-five years, nature can take its course. Nobody is going to be golfing enough at Reflection Bay to justify keeping it open and the grass alive, let it go. Once the economy picks up again the course can be rebuilt (the irrigation will still be in place).
There is no point putting good money toward a bad investment. If Lake Las Vegas is such a great place it will survive the next few difficult years without Reflection Bay.
@ Phillg - it's not Vegas, it's Henderson, or, as the local teens call this place - Henderhell
The truth about the golf courses is that the members of the SouthShore course are trying to buy it but the lender/creditor will not talk to them. There is one individual trying to buy Reflection Bay and having the same problem. The subnmission for the purchase of the golf courses needs to be submitted to the bankruptcy court and the judge may order a "cram down" and force the creditors to take less than their outstanding debt.
The truth about the green fees is that there is a "resident rate" which is available upon presentation of valid identification. The rate is about 40% of the hotel/tourist rate.
If the City of Henderson has set the courses up to be a golf course it is very difficult for anyone to change the zoning.
The Reflection Bay Golf Course is a wonderful course. There is plenty of play on the course on the weekends and holidays. Why not try to get someone like American Golf to come in and run the course.