Concert Golf acquires Sand Creek Country Club (Oct 22)

Concert Golf Partners has acquired Sand Creek Country Club, a premier private country club located here in Northwest Indiana.

Concert Golf, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based owner-operator of private clubs, purchased Sand Creek from the Lake Erie Land division of NiSource, a regional utility, in a transaction handled by Jeff Woolson, managing director of CBRE Golf & Resort Properties. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Peter Nanula, Concert Golf Partners CEO, announced that Sand Creek is debt-free and assessments will never again be imposed on the membership. Nanula added that Concert Golf is launching numerous capital projects that were developed in consultation with the Sand Creek membership, including pool-area upgrades and new, informal dining facilities.

Developed in the 1970s by Bethlehem Steel, Sand Creek Country Club boasts a rich tradition as a family-friendly retreat with the full range of amenities and activities, all located within 40 minutes of Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan, in the affluent suburb of Chesterton. Its 27-hole golf course, designed by Ken Killian and Dick Nugent, is ranked among Indiana’s top 10 and has hosted U.S. Open qualifying, in addition to numerous Indiana state and amateur events.

Existing amenities at Sand Creek include a wedding pavilion, a popular swim center, five tennis courts, pitch-and-putt course, soccer field and state-of-the-art fitness facilities. Sand Creek members enjoy a number of annual traditions and celebrations, many of them centered on its impressive 50,000-square-foot clubhouse and banquet facility, which offers a variety of indoor and outdoor seating. Nanula said new membership opportunities at Sand Creek, for golf and all other categories, are now on offer.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sand Creek Country Club into our family of upscale clubs and to play a role in the future of this wonderful, family-friendly club with a top-notch golf course,” Nanula said. “We have already begun the planning of our immediate capital improvement projects. Sand Creek Country Club has an active, engaged membership who will now enjoy a well capitalized and professionally operated future — with reciprocal playing privileges at our other fine clubs.”

Concert Golf is unique in being an all-cash buyer of private clubs with a dedicated golf fund, which allows it to acquire those clubs with no debt and invest in the properties for the long term. Concert Golf’s significant pool of capital allows it to invest in and upgrade large-scale private clubs located in major metro areas. Concert Golf has recently acquired eight such clubs nationally, including including the prestigious Golf Club of Amelia Island adjacent to the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island near Jacksonville, Florida, the luxurious Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City, and several formerly member-owned clubs.

From 1993 to 2000, Nanula was the founder and CEO of Arnold Palmer Golf Management. The Concert Golf group brings to its current portfolio substantial experience from owning and operating more than 30 clubs in the 1990s, at a high standard, under the Arnold Palmer Golf brand name.

“It is really a pleasure dealing with Concert Golf as a buyer of large-scale private clubs like Sand Creek,” Woolson said. “Their experience with other quality clubs bodes well for the future of Sand Creek and its members.”

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