Jackson golfcoui~e nses ~rn.nvei~~de

‘WYOMING BUSINESS REPORT
WWW~WYOMINGBUSINESSREPORT.COM
June2O14~ 7
8 I ON and gas vs. tour~sm
1O~1 I I Largest hotels list
Jackson golf coui~e nses ~rn.nvei~~de
U
Turbulent history leads
to opulent present ripe
with opportunity
BY MARK WILCOX
[email protected]
JACKSON For y~ars, the Snake River Sporting
Club has been lying in what amounts to a riverside
grave. But after a new team bought the property with
cash, the private club has risen from the dead.
The property found itself in the rough after devel
opers pumped an estimated $100 million into the
project starting in the early 2000s. Originally called
the Canyon Club, it had been constantly mired in
bunkers of controversy over wildlife problems, devel
opment questions and, of course, financial ~oncerns.
By 2005, Dick Edgcomb, the now-deceased
developer of the project, sold to New York-based
developers Dolan, Pollak & Schram in what
amounted to a “leveraged buyout.” This came after
unpaid contractors started walking off the job in
2003 and creditors sought to force the property
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>~ See Snake River, 27
COURTESY SNAKE RIVER SPORTING CLUB
FIELD OF GREENS The Snake River Sporting Club has brought back the golf course from dormancy after the
previous developer buried the project in debt. For more photos, visit WyomingBusinessReport.com.
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June2014 ~ 27
Wyoming Business Report I www.wyomingbusinessreport.com
SNAKE RIIVER
from 7
into involuntary bankruptcy in 2004.
But the weight of the debt was too
much even for the New York developer
as the recession hit the green and the
club bogeyed out in bankruptcy court
once more. Chapter 7 bankruptcy ele
vated to Chapter 11 proceedings that
required the liquidation of assets. The
developer then faced nearly $91.5 mil
lion in liabilities with only about $ 9.8M
in assets.
Since then, Wells Fargo has been
sitting on the property in foreclosure,
putting in minimal course maintenance
to keep it from going fully to the rough.
Officials said it looked like a golf course
that just hadn’t been maintained to
spec. Even so, by the time the new
owners stepped in the bunkers had
trees growing in them. The golf course,
which was named the “No. 2 Best New
Private Course in the U.S.” by Golf
Digest when it opened in 2007, soaked
up $5 million worth ofrehabilitation to
get it up to par for its May reopening.
Goof carts have no
rear-view mirrors
With a history more turbulent than
the whitewater rapids that flow nearby,
the task Of handing off a history isn’t
as simple as passing clubs to a caddie.
“Turning the karma around” for such
a massive private golf development
definitely takes the right club and the
right players.
“We ripped the rear-view mirrors
off~” said Chief Operating Officer Jeff
Heilbrun, who was hired by Cygnus
Capital Real Estate Advisors to man
age the property’s do-over. “We are
focused on the future, focused on
positive relationships with the com
munity.”
As of October 2013, the club had
invested $11.5 million beyond the
undisclosed purchase price “to rein
vent the club as Wyoming’s foremost
outdoor adventure playground, pro
viding the quintessential Jackson Hole
experience within the confines of a
club environment.” That includes a lot
of experience.
Beyond the 18-hole Tom Weiskopf
championship golf course, the 800acre club also has an equestrian center;
an archery field with 3-D targets;
access to forestlands on all sides in the
private inholding; hiking and biking
trails; kayaking and fishing access;
varied winter activities including heli
skiing; and for those who prefer their
links to end in chains rather than flags,
Frisbee golf.
“Snake River Sporting Club is the
perfect marriage of rugged nature
and authentic Western lifestyle,” said
Christopher Swann, founding investor
of Cygnus in a release.
Though the club lacks rear-view
mirrors, its variegated history may be
its best asset in reality. While Heilbrun
estimates the property has $100 mil
lion put into it, the foreclosures and
bankruptcies set it up well for Cygnus,
which bought the property in Febru
ary 2013 for decidedly less.
“This company didn’t spend $100
million on this,” he said. Consequently,
Cygnus doesn’t have to recoup all the
infrastructure costs. And what it did
spend was in cash, except for a few
smaller construction projects.
“There’s no debt on our operations,”
Heilbrun said. “We don’t have a bank
looking over our shoulder here. That’s
a big deal.”
That allows the club to price itself
more competitively, Heilbrun said,
using creative membership options.
As an example, he said some clubs can
charge $250,000 for memberships
with ongoing dues. By contrast, some
limited memberships at Snake River
Sporting Club will be about $3,000
plus dues. Heilbrun didn’t disclose
what a full member would pay.
The results have been encouraging.
A tour around the wood-paneled lock
er room shows many lockers already
name-plated with new and returning
members 115 of them to be precise.
That’s more than the old one ever had.
When it closed, the club had 90 mem
bers on the books, Heilbrun said, and
critical mass will be between 300-350
members.
Of the 115 members, Heilbrun
said about half are returning from the
club’s previous iteration. His team has
invited all the former members back,
offering to honor the deal they had
when the club initially went belly up,
initiating returning members with no
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initiation fee.
“We can’t do anything about the
equity that was lost iji the deal,” Heil
brun said. “But what we can do is say,
‘Look, you joined the club at one point
in time because you loved it; we want
you back, we’re not going to charge you
another initiation fee.”
Additionally, though it will be a pri
vate club for members, Heilbrun said
connecting with the community will
be key to moving forward. The Jackson
community largely rallied against the
development the first time around, a
reaction possibly exacerbated by the
loss of the iconic Astoria Hot Springs
(see article page 1), which may also be
making its own comeback.
Yet it’s a private club, meaning the
welcome mat can only be extended so
far to the community.
“Well, it’s a business,” Heilbrun
said. Even so, he said pretty much
without exception nonprofits seeking
donations can score a round of golf for
four to auction off. There are also 1
percent transaction fees that get fed
back into the educational community.
Beyond that, events can be hosted at
the club.
“We’re open to weddings and
events; that’s not private,” he said,
underscoring the fact that a halfdozen weddings of people who aren’t
members will be hosted at the club
this hummer.
But it may be ,other communities
>~ See More S~iake R~ver, 29
Wyoming Business Report
June2014 ~ 29
www.wyomingbusinessreport.com
ON THE JOB
ACADE~NCS
PAL~ERLEE SELECTED NEW
PRESIDENT OF UW TRUSTEES
Buffalo attorney David Palmerlee is the new
president of the University of Wyoming
Board of Trustees.
Palmerlee has served as the board’s vice
president for the past two years. He was cho
sen by the board last week to succeed. Dave
BostromofWorland, who served two terms as
boardpresident.
Palmerlee first was appointed as a trustee by
Gov. Dave Freudenthal in 2005 and was ap
pointed to a second term by Gov. Matt Mead
in 2011. Palmerlee’s term on the board expires
in 2017.
John MacPherson of Saratoga was elected
vice president.
Appointed by the governor with consent of
the Wyoming State Senate, the UW Board of
Trustees consists of 12 members appointed to
six-year, staggered terms. As UW’s governing
body, the trustees oversee the university’s ma
jor policy and budgetary matters.
are taught it’s all about people, not profit, and
we shouldn’t ever lose sight of our purpose.
When we stay true to our purpose, credit
unions have a meaningful impact on our mem
bers and communities.”
GOVERNMENT
CHEYENNE COURT REPORTER
EARNS NAT’L CERTIFICATION
The National Court Reporters Association
(NCRA), the country’s leading organization
representing stenographic court reporters and
captioners, has announced that Janet Davis
has earned the nationally recognized Regis
tered Diplomate Reporter (RDR) certification,
the highest credential available to stenograph
ic court reporters. The reporters with the RDR
credential are recognized as highly experi
enced and seasoned, and members of the
profession’s elite.
“RDRs truly are the elite members of the court
reporters and captioners when it comes to ex
perience and knowledge of the latest technol
ogy, reporting practices and professional prac
tices,” said Jim Cudahy, CEO and executive
director of NCRA. “NCRA currently has about
350 members who hold this highly prdstigious
certification.”
Janet Davis, from Cheyenne, Wyoming, is a
member of NCRA and has worked as a court
reporter for 33 years. She also holds the pro
fessional certifications of Registered Profes
sional Reporter (RPR), Registered Merit Re
porter (RMR) and Federal Certified Realtime
Reporter (FCRR). Davis is currently a court
reporter for the United States District Courts,
District of Wyoming.
NONPROFIT
MOUNTAIN WEST CREDIT UNION
FOUNDATION NAMES 2014-2015
BOARD OFFICERS
DENVER The Mountain West Credit Union
Foundation has elected its 2014-2015 board
-
of directors officers. The officers were elected
at the MWCUA’s Annual Meeting & Convention
held late April in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“The Mountain West Credit Union Foundation
provides financial support for leadership devel
opment, professional development, academic
scholarships and èommunity assistance, to
name just a few,” said Dr. Dan Santangelo,
executive director of the Foundation. “We are
privileged to have such dedicated leaders
working to help as many people as possible
via the Foundation’s resources.”
Wyoming representatives on the board include
Marsha Tynsky, president and CEO of Trona
Valley Federal Credit Union in Green River,
Wyoming, will serve her first year as the board
chair; Tyler Valentine, president and CEO of
Laramie Plains Community Credit Union in
Laramie, Wyoming, will serve as secretary. The
Foundation board of directors provides leader
ship and direction for the Foundation.
CREDIT UNIONS
TRONA VALLEY FEDERAL
CREDIT UNION’S GIBSON EARNS
CERTIFICATION
Trona Valley Federal Credit Union’s Chief
Operating Officer, Jeremy Gibson, was one
of forty-three credit union professionals who
became Credit Union Development Educators
(CUDEs) through the intensive Credit Union
Development Education (DE) Training from theNational Credit Union Foundation (NCUF).
The Spring DE training was held April 23-30,
2014 at the Lowell Center on the University of
Wisconsin campus in Madison, Wis. The grad
uating class included credit union representa
tives from across the United States, United
Kingdom and Jamaica.
“I went to Madison not knowing what to ex
pect,” said Gibson. “I left with a renewed pride
for credit union history and the cooperative
principles that serve as the foundation for what
we do. Credit Union Development Educators
MORE SNAKE RIIVER
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that the club attracts with discounted
national memberships for people who
don’t have property within 200 miles
of the place. Perhaps unsurprisingly
given the history, the New York Post
recently reported that a full fifth of
the members at the club are from
the tn-state area of New York, New
Jersey and Connecticut.
“Like living in a sprawling all-sea
son ranch, the club has huge appeal to
New Yorkers,” wrote Heidi Mitchell,
the author of the article listing the
club as one of the 20 hottest realestate grabs in the world.
The last hurdle may be local accep
tance, but Heilbrun said most things
seem to be pulling together for the
once-defunct club, including the pool
of roughly 40 employees the company
will employ.
“It’s a different time now things
are healthier the market is good, the
real-estate market is tightening up
and the facilities are just outstand
ing,” Heilbrun said. “We’re thrilled
with the way that it came through the
winte~ the golf course and we’re
ready for activity.”
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It’s more thao coveraoe. It~ care.
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Wyoming Business Report eDaily
Editor Mark Wilcox worked as a young
busser tripping over his own feet while
holding expensive dishware at Teton
Pines when Heilbrun was general man
ager there in the 1990s.
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