Good news, golfers.
Glen Annie Golf Course, 405 Glen Annie Road, which recently announced plans to cease operations this Monday, is likely to reopen next week under a deal between the bank and a new management company, general manager Rich Nahas said Thursday morning.
Under a “cooperative foreclosure” deal, the bank in charge of buying Glen Annie’s bad debts will allow the course to reopen under the leadership of Touchstone Golf LLC, which specializes in running golf courses, Nahas said.
In addition, the 75 Glen Annie employees who would have lost their jobs will be retained, Nahas said.
“All the staff members will be staying on,” he said.
Touchstone officials will visit the course Friday, Nahas said. He called rumors that a buyer had surfaced to purchase the course “absolutely not true.”
Touchstone has offices in Berkeley and Burnet, Texas, according to the company’s Web site. Some of its other course clients listed online are Boulder Creek Golf & Country Club in the Santa Cruz Mountains; Lake Chabot Golf Course in Oakland; Avery Ranch in North Austin, Texas; and Mississippi National Golf Club.
The Glen Annie course has been burdened by financial difficulties since it opened more than a decade ago, and has lost nearly $15 million since its launch.
Glen Annie announced its plan to close June 22, one week after the Goleta City Council voted not to allow studies that would have examined the viability of residential development on the course’s property.
Last July, representatives of the 159-acre course applied for an amendment to Goleta’s General Plan, asking for the city’s permission for the agriculture-zoned property to include a combination of recreational and residential development.
The property is in an unincorporated area, so annexation by Goleta would have been required, as would the General Plan amendment to change portions of the land designated for open space to residential.
ValleyCrest Companies, owner of the golf course, proposed turning the course into an 18-hole executive course, with 185 units of multi- and single-family residential units and townhomes. But on June 16, the council shut down any possibility of exploring that option.
— Noozhawk staff writer Laurie Jervis can be reached at ljervis@noozhawk.com.