Waubeeka Golf May Have Buyer Waiting in the Wings
 Rumors are flying that a buyer has emerged for Waubeeka Golf Links. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — There may be good news for one of North County's public golf courses, and a bogie for another.
There are rumors that a deep-pocketed local connection to Williamstown is interested in acquiring Waubeeka Golf Links.
"There has been a lot of activity but nothing definite," said Alan Marden of Alton & Westall Agency, which is handling the listing for owners James and Jody Goff. "We're hopeful, but it's not a good time to be selling a golf course."
However, a source close to the negotiations says a formal offer has been made for the 18-hole course in an effort to save it as a recreational asset and open space.
The deal would reportedly maintain the course and spin off its operations — including the pro shop and restaurant — as independent businesses and lower the cost to play there. It would also means more than 20 jobs, some of which could be new.
The potential buyer is rumored to be an Internet entrepreneur but iBerkshires.com Publisher Osmin Alvarez of Williamstown, who purchased Greylock Bowl in North Adams last year, said it's not him.
"Contrary to rumors, I have no interest or involvement in this deal," Alvarez said.
Marden said the course is completely shut down at the moment with a groundskeeper maintaining it.
The asking price on the 200 acres along Routes 7 and 43 was reduced from $5 million to $3.5 million last fall to encourage interest in the facility.
"It is our hope to find a buyer at this reduced price who will continue to operate Waubeeka as a golf course," Goff said a statement back in August. The Goffs bought Waubeeka in 2008 for $4.2 million and invested $1 million into it.
The fear has been the property, actually three parcels, could be broken up for housing development. That possibility, however, could run into difficulty because of the lack of water and sewer line in South Williamstown. A proposal to run a municipal water line south along Route 7 was nixed a decade ago specifically over fears it would promote dense development in the rural area.
Meanwhile, in Clarksburg, dreams of an 18-hole course may be stuck in a sandtrap at the moment.
Golf course designer James Basiliere of Dalton purchased the note for the cash-strapped North Adams Country Club in 2011 for $305,000 and laid out ambitious plans to expand the nine-hole course over the next several years, including revamping the problematic entrance and building a new clubhouse.
However, the property is listed for foreclosure auction by MountainOne Bank on March 25. When contacted, Basiliere said, "there is no foreclosure" and that he would be able to speak on what's happening with the project when he's back in town next week.
Tags: golf course,
