Amherst residents may become the new owners of the Westwood Country Club and its 18-hole golf course.
And the town may relinquish ownership of the Audubon Golf Course so developers can start a construction project that would redefine the commercial landscape of Amherst.
The owners of the 170-acre Westwood Country Club are proposing an acre-for-acre swap of their club and golf course between Sheridan Drive and Maple Road for the municipal Audubon Golf Course across the street. A formal letter outlining their proposal is expected to be submitted to the town Wednesday.
Developer Andrew J. Shaevel, managing partner with Mensch Capital Partners, said he recognizes that the unusual proposal will take time to develop and will require input from the community, but he?s hoping an agreement can be reached by the end of next year.
?It?s a unique proposition that exists today, if we can make the exchange work,? he said.
Some town leaders have expressed cautious interest. Supervisor Barry Weinstein said he?s had several private talks with would-be and current owners of the country club since the fall.
?Everything?s in play,? he said.
Mensch Capital Partners purchased Westwood in March when the country club was on the verge of bankruptcy. The development group, created for the purpose of acquiring the Westwood property, comprises several partners representing Essjay Partners, Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. and the Hamister Group.
The country club continues to operate as a private membership club. But club managers recently informed Mensch Capital that they were terminating their lease to run the golf club and clubhouse as of Dec. 31.
That spurred the club owners to act, Shaevel said.
Under Mensch Capital Partners proposal:
* The town would give up and rezone 170 acres of the roughly 220 acres that make up the 18-hole Audubon Golf Course and driving range, and petition the state for the alienation of park land.
* The developer would transfer the Westwood Country Club property to the town as a ?turn-key operation.? Aside from the golf course, that property includes a clubhouse, pro shop, pool, tennis courts and driving range. The country club parcel connects to the town?s Audubon Par 3 golf course on the south side of Maple Road.
* Mensch Capital Partners would develop the Audubon property as a mixed-use project facing Millersport Highway.
The initial concept is expected to include multifamily residential housing, such as townhouses, senior and assisted-living housing; ?light retail? development; professional office space; a hotel; and restaurants.
?While we?re in the really early stages of this project, we?ve hired a master planner for this site,? Shaevel said.
Jay Valgora, an urban planner, architect and design expert based in New York City, has worked on projects around the world, but he has Hamburg roots and agreed to be part of the project, Shaevel said.
Though Valgora has helped develop a preliminary concept plan for the Audubon site, Shaevel said his development team will embark on a ?listening tour? to gather feedback and input from residents, UB and town representatives in the coming months to shape a final design proposal.
That?s understandable, given the controversy and failure of Benderson Development to execute its own mixed-use proposal for the much smaller, neighboring gun club property after three years of effort and investment.
Benderson ultimately sold the former Buffalo Shooting Club, just west of Audubon on Maple Road, to American Campus Communities for $10.5 million in May. Specific plans for that 34-acre site have not yet been submitted by the student housing corporation.
The Mensch Capital proposal for the Audubon site is much larger in scale.
It could receive support from town golfers looking for a better playing experience than the town currently provides.
Some town officials are also attracted to the town?s ability to upgrade and consolidate its recreational assets, grow its golf course income and gain more long-term property-tax revenue, through the private development of Audubon.
The project ?could be one of the best things that ever happened to this town,? according to Council Member Mark Manna, who spoke with developer and partner Paul Ciminelli about the land-swap deal.
Though he was against Benderson?s Amherst Town Centre project because of neighborhood opposition, Manna said the fact that this project will face Millersport Highway makes a big difference.
?I don?t see how anyone loses if this come through,? he said. ?This town needs smart growth.?
Others, however, are likely to raise issues related to the loss of green space, as well as environmental impact and traffic concerns. While main traffic access will be via Millersport Highway, Shaevel said, access points along Maple Road will be necessary.
Roughly 250 acres on the southeast side of the University at Buffalo have remained relatively undeveloped for decades, but with UB?s expansion plans, the Audubon Golf Course and adjacent land have become a target for developers.
The town has owned the Audubon Golf Course since the 1960s, but it has struggled with the course?s operating losses in recent years. Westwood has also faced serious financial difficulties.
But since Westwood was taken over by Mensch Capital Partners and managed by Jon Cohen and Todd Sugarman of Culinary Productions, the entire golf course operation has been revitalized and now boasts a waiting list of people wanting to join the club, Shaevel said.
Had Sugarman and Cohen not announced their intention to terminate their golf club lease agreement by December of next year, the existing arrangement may have continued, Shaevel said.
Instead, club owners were motivated to explore a land-swap option that?s been circulating as an idea for years. Weinstein said Sugarman and Cohen first approached him in the fall with the concept when it initially appeared that they might become the new owners of Westwood.
Shaevel said Mensch Capital?s proposal would extend the bike path into the Audubon property and would more fully connect UB?s North Campus to the rest of the town. That?s a concept supported by both the UB 2020 strategic plan and by the town?s own comprehensive plan, he said.
If no land-swap arrangement is reached, however, Mensch Capital Partners still has other options for the Westwood property.
Those options include renegotiating with Culinary Productions for ongoing management of the course, bringing in another golf course operator or creating a new development plan for the property, Shaevel said.
Council member Guy Marlette said the town needs to consider and evaluate the land-swap proposal, especially since the possibility exists under Westwood?s ?community-facility? zoning designation that the country club could be redeveloped into something else.
?I think by not talking to them and not entering into conversation, that?s a bad move,? Marlette said. ?That?s short-sighted.?
Weinstein said he?ll consider the Westwood proposal, but only if the developers recognize that the per-acre value of the Audubon property is greater than the per-acre value of the Westwood property. While Westwood is considered the better golf course, Audubon offers a far better location for mixed-use development, he said.
Any land swap deal should include payment to the town for the difference between the worth of the Westwood parcel and the worth of the Audubon parcel, he said.
?We?ll see how realistic and how reasonable these people are,? Weinstein said.
Shaevel responded that an appraisal of both properties is necessary before terms can be reached.
stan@buffnews.comnull
Article source: http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/amherst/article971623.ece
Source: http://www.rankinrealty.net/2012/07/a-real-estate-deal-thats-not-quite-par/
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