44 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2018
The purchase of the Muttontown
Club was part of a recapitalization
deal, unanimously approved by
the club’s board of directors and
by a 96-3 vote of its members,
under which Concert Golf paid
off the club’s debt, lowered equity
member dues and infused $1
million into the club. according to
the corporation. Not clear was the
purchase price.
“Terms were confidential,” Nanula
says.
An update on the Engineers deal
wasn’t available and RXR declined
to comment for this story.
Before those three transactions, in
2015, the 125-acre Cedarbrook Club
in Old Brookville was put up for sale,
the 107-acre Woodcrest Country
Club in Muttontown sold for $19
million in 2010 and the North Shore
Country Club in Glen Head was
purchased for $12.5 million in 2009.
Also in negotiations for sale and
partial development was the 168-
acre Cold Spring Country Club.
Matt Tucker, that club’s general
manager, declined to comment.
A deal to acquire Cedarbrook
Club fell through early this year,
according to David Rafiy, its
director.
“We’re looking to build up the
membership and catering business,
and we’ll consider other alternatives
as well,” he says, noting that
membership is “up significantly.”
Driving the issue is the fact that
many younger parents don’t have
much time to play golf, the number
of courses has expanded, especially
on LI — where private clubs now
compete with new, “high-end”
municipal courses — and certain
clubs have rising debt and declining
membership, Rafiy says.
“They had high standards, spent
a lot of money on renovations and
they had big loans,” he says. “Rather
than continue to pass along the
deficits to their members, they
decided to sell.”
One bright spot is that the number
of people interested in golf seems to
be “on the upswing,” he says.
Although he expects the number
of local country clubs being put up
for sale will “level off,” he predicts
“there are probably a few more clubs
that will change hands.”
While member-owned Pine
Hollow Country Club in East
Norwich is flourishing as a “fullservice,
family centric country
club” with amenities including an
Olympic-size pool, tennis courts
and an 18-hole golf course, “a lot of
other clubs are kind of going into
the golf club” business and moving
away from “top-level service” to
save money, says Brian Lau, general
manager.
Others trying to maintain highend
services are drastically
slashing membership fees to be
more competitive with other local
clubs — “a slippery slope” because
they’re “bringing members in at
substantially less revenue,” he says.
“That equation just doesn’t work.”
It also remains to be seen how clubs
that were once member-owned will
fare now after being bought out by
corporations that start making all
the decisions, he says. Experts say
they must figure out ways to attract
younger members to survive.
“The cost of living is going up
substantially on Long Island,” he
says. “Everything is going up. So, it’s
really, really, really tough for young
families to join a country club.”
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