Club president says move
Ormond Country Club is still open after announcing that it would close by the end of 2009.
After Chase Bank called the club’s $900,000 note, the club’s president, Ken Turkington, said that Ormond would close unless the community stepped in to save it.
However, the club raised less money than they had hoped and the club’s lawyers had to get a 30-day extension on the note.
Now, Turkington says that bankruptcy is unavoidable.
“The club is going to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” he said. “It has to.”
Turkington has outlined a plan to save the club, though.
A new corporation has been formed, with Turkington likely being named president, to handle the bankruptcy and manage the club.
“To go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, you have to submit a plan to show that there’s a viable way for the club to stay open while you’re putting together a (long-term) plan,” he said. “This new corporation will kind of guarantee that Ormond (Country Club) will have the funds to continue during the reorganization.”
Turkington said one of the most important things is to keep the bank from seizing the club.
“If the bank seizes it, it’s going to go up for auction and then anyone could get it and do what they want with that area,” Turkington said. “I’m basically just trying to protect the people who live on the golf course from anything happening on that land behind them. We’re trying to do whatever is best for Ormond as a subdivision.”
The draw to living in the subdivision is the golf course, he said. “Without it, it’s just another subdivision.”
Turkington says it’s still up to the community to save the club, especially those who live on the 106-acre golf course.
“Even under reorganization or if the club is bought out of bankruptcy, if the community does not support it in one way or another then it still won’t make it. The important group is the 185 people who live on the golf course and don’t belong to the club,” he said. “With 2/3 of people living on the golf course and not supporting it, it makes it very difficult to maintain it.
“We’re maintaining their view, their backyard and they contribute nothing. If we can’t change that, it’s going to be very difficult for the course to make it.”
Turkington said that the new corporation, DRG, will be trying to think of ways to attract more people to buy membership at the club.
Ideas he mentioned include adding an exercise room and upgrading the restaurant. He said they also hope to offer cheaper membership options.
“We’re looking for that magic idea that’s out there that will make people say ‘I want to be a part of it and it won’t bust my bank roll,’” he said. “This is something we’ve been trying to do for 18 years.”
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