South Bend on course to sell Elbel Golf Course

The City of South Bend is on course to sell another golf course.

Elbel Golf Course is park property and the city’s Park Board has voted to sell the 300 acre facility to the highest bidder. “The next step would be to seek approval from the Common Council to be able to go out for bid, for the Park Board to go out for bid and to sell the golf course to the best and most responsive bidder,” said South Bend Parks Director Phil St. Clair.

Appraisals show that Elbel would be worth a lot more money if it were sold as developable land than if it were sold with a requirement that it remain a golf course.

“The values that came out of the appraisals, the above numbers we’re looking at for the housing development, the property could be appraised as high as $1.3 million. For a golf course, the average appraised came out at $750, 000,” said St. Clair.

Earlier this year, the city closed on the sale of Blackthorn Golf Course to a private, for-profit owner. That new owner is scheduled to start construction next spring on a multi-story, 120 room hotel on the Blackthorn grounds as part of a plan to create a destination resort. Since day one, part of the resort plan called for the acquisition of Elbel.

“It fits into our master plan of acquiring Blackthorn and building a hotel and then having that second golf course as an option for our stay and play guests to play,” said Tim Firestone of the Blackthorn Golf Club. “We think it fits into our strategy a lot of economies of scale, of running two golf courses that are that close together and we think it’s a great opportunity for us.”

While the city knows that someone is interested in buying Elbel to continue its 50 year history as a golf course, it’s unclear whether any housing developer would be interested in swallowing up the 300 plus acre parcel.

“Our hope is that when the golf course is sold it will remain a golf course. I think that the board will be looking at proposals to ensure that Elbel would remain a golf course as its top priority,” said St. Clair.

St. Clair said that the city typically spends anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 per year to subsidize operating losses at its golf courses. This year, Elbel is just $5,000 short of breaking even, although the course went the year without filling a full time position for head greens keeper.

Even if Elbel is sold, the city would still own two other golf courses: Erskine and Studebaker.

St. Clair hopes that the Common Council weighs in on the matter in January so any sale could be completed by start of the 2016 golf season.