Magazine - Penrith Golf Club needs to Develop

By Editor in Golf on 11th Jan 2010 11:00

Penrith Golf Club is pursuing the construction of four multi-storey apartment buildings on its site on The Northern Rd in a desperate bid to solve its long-standing financial woes.

The club has pinned its hopes on the approval of a seniors housing complex to pay off a $3.5 million debt incurred in 1997 after a blowout in the cost of building its clubhouse. The club’s general manager Brendon Kop told the Press the club had traded at a loss for all but one of the past 12 years, with its long-term financial sustainability in doubt unless the apartment proposal went ahead.

“If it doesn’t go ahead we’ll be consistently in debt and we’ll never pay it off,” Mr Kop said. “Basically, our members directed the board to look for avenues to get out of debt. If that means development on the site, then so be it.”

The club’s fiscal misery had been compounded by declining golf patronage and indoor smoking bans introduced in 2007, which had led to a slump in bar and gaming revenue, Mr Kop said.

With a large 52ha land holding, which runs adjacent to the eastern edge of Glenmore Park, the site was ripe for development opportunities, according to a report presented to Penrith Council late last year. The club has identified the land around the existing clubhouse, shop and carpark as suitable for development, noting the constraints posed by nearby residential areas and the need to maintain the course as an 18-hole championship facility.

The housing complex, proposed by developer Cityscape Planning & Projects, would comprise four 10-12m-high apartment buildings. It would require an adjustment to the existing golf course layout and provide a new and improved club, the report stated.

Source & More: penrith-press.whereilive.com.au

Read more articles in Golf, by Editor or from January 2010.