Golf Course, Resort, and Community Development Team
The HRO Golf Course, Resort, and Community Development team handles interesting projects that often include ordinary legal issues that are constrained by extraordinary considerations. The depth and breadth of our firm’s experience enables us to provide helpful legal and practical advice in a wide variety of challenges such as conversion of developer-owned assets to member-owned clubs, remediation of environmental issues, complex tax problems, protecting intellectual property rights, and protecting water rights and needs. We bring this range of experience to vacation ownership, club membership programs, mixed use resort developments and master planned communities. We also use our experience with private clubs, golf and resort properties to address these unique concerns. For example, we have successfully been called upon to: balance the rights and demands of a golf club, social club and homeowners association; manage financial concerns to protect 501(c)(7) status; guide developers or members through the landmines of equity club conversions; represent clubs, developers and lenders in troubled economic circumstances; manage securities issues when changing an aspect of the equity club membership; and manage various transactions without jeopardizing private club status. We bring a wealth of experience in many areas of law together with our expertise in private club, golf and resort related transactions to provide our clients superior representation.
Our attorneys have represented buyers, sellers, developers, members, and lenders in connection with a wide range of private club, resort, vacation ownership, golf course, and mixed-use development projects throughout the United States. Our experience includes:
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Representing lenders by negotiating and documenting hundreds of millions of dollars of loans secured by golf course and resort property;
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Representing the membership receiving the turnover of golf club assets from the developer in master-planned communities;
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Representing the developer of a ski area and associated residential and vacation sites;
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Formation of non-profit corporations to take title to and own club assets;
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Representing private clubs and homeowner associations in all aspects of their businesses;
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Negotiating golf club management agreements on behalf of owners and management companies;
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Representing the developer of a master planned community of over 3500 acres in the metropolitan Denver area;
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Representing a creditor evaluating options to exercise on golf course real and personal property collateral;
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Advising golf clubs in connection with liability issues from errant golf balls;
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Representing buyers and sellers of golf courses;
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Advising developer of mixed-use improvements at the base of a ski area;
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Drafting and amending CC&Rs governing golf course property and master-planned communities;
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Representing a private club resisting a takeover by a lender attempting to turn the club public through a foreclosure action;
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Representing buyers in the corporate and financial issues related to golf course purchase;
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Advising golf course owners and memberships regarding securities issues related to golf course membership sales;
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Representing a developer of a resort master planned community of over 5,000 acres;
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Representing the receiver appointed to take over golf course operations after defaults under credit arrangements;
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Representing members in reverse-turnovers (sale of Club assets by members to third party where members retain certain use rights);
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Handling related issues that impact resort and golf club ownership and development, such as securities, environmental, water, tax, entity formation and corporate governance.
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Robyn Nordin Stowell chairs the Golf Course and Resort Development Team and can be reached at 480-624-4550 or robyn.stowell@hro.com.