For sale: golf course, extras
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For Sale: Mill Creek Country Club. Swimming pool, six tennis courts and a "first-class" 6,300-yard, 18-hole golf course. Asking price: $7 million.
After more than 27 years of ownership and operation, United Development Corporation (UDC) of Mill Creek has put its country club property up for sale. UDC officials said yesterday they hope to finalize an agreement by spring.
"Our first priority is to secure a deal that protects the best interest of our members, our employees and their families - the people who have been so critical making the club a success," said UDC Assistant Vice President Ken Karahashi. Options include selling the country club to a new owner or selling the property to Mill Creek Country Club's members.
United Development Corporation officials are talking to four potential outside buyers as well as the country club's board of directors. The country club has 70 employees. Potential buyers operate private golf facilities "with the highest level of service possible," a Jan. 9 letter to members said.
The corporation also promised to assist Mill Creek Country Club members in organizing an effort to buy the course and its facilities themselves, perhaps operating it as a nonprofit corporation.
"This is a situation where we could have simply announced that we're selling the club and moving on," Karahashi said. Giving members an equal chance to buy the club "is a symbol of our respect" "and a way of saying thank you," he said.
The decision to sell Mill Creek was made by UDC's parent company, Tokyu of Japan, which owns golf courses, resort complexes and luxury hotels around the globe, including the Pan Pacific Hotel chain.
"Although we have been successful, the Japanese economy is declining. We want to concentrate domestically and on some of the overseas operations like Pan Pacific Hotels, said Karahashi. "Tokyu just wants to put the right money in the right place," he said. After 27 years of development, UDC has finished its final plat in the golf-course community, he added.
Tokyu, with a current market capitalization in excess of $686 billion, is one of Japan's leading railway and transportation companies, in addition to its resort and recreation businesses.
Members of the country club "are very positive (about) trying to buy this," said Karahashi. Club leaders could not be immediately reached for comment.
UDC's Mill Creek Land Development began in 1973. Located 30 minutes from downtown Seattle and just east of the Bothell-Everett Highway, the Mill Creek Country Club was the first golf and country club development in the area north of Seattle. Carved out of a mature forest of evergreens, the 18-hole golf course was designed in 1975 by architect Ted Robinson, who also designed the Sahalee Country Club course in Redmond and the Sudden Valley Golf and Country Club course in Bellingham.
"It is a real shot-maker's club. The layout is about 6,350 (yards) from the back tees, so it's more like Sahalee from the regular tees," said Tom Sursely, the club's golf pro for the past 25 years. "It's a great members club, and we've hosted a lot of amateur events," he said.
According to Karahashi, the club charges a $7,500 initial golf membership fee or $7,800 for a combined golf-and-tennis package. Dues run $300 per month.
The clubhouse has floor-to-ceiling windows and features an array of facilities, including the lodge-style Cedar Room, which seats up to 200 people. Currently, the country club has approximately 800 dues-paying members, of whom about 400 are strictly golf-club members. The club also offers tennis and social memberships.
Karahashi said United Development arrived at its $7 million asking price through an appraisal of the property. While UDC hopes the club membership will purchase the property, Karahashi said that if another group or individual bids higher, the higher bid will prevail.
In the meantime, it will be life as usual at the sprawling complex. The corporation said all activities, including golf and tennis programs, will operate as they do today.
"Now that the last tract of the 1,090-acre Mill Creek Land Development has been completed, it seemed like the right time to wind things down," Karahashi said.