HomeMy WebLinkAboutUntitled (3)Golf pro, football star team
up on country club venture
By STEVEN H. LEE
Business Writer
Golf professional Doug Sanders
and former Texas A &M Universi-
ty football star Dave Elmendorf
will be consultants in the develop-
ment of a golf country club and
fitness center
proposed for the College Station
Industrial Park.
JAC De-
velopers Inc., a
local company
which is already
in a joint -
venture arrange-
ment with the ci-
ty to develop
1,035 acres of
the 2,300 -acre
park, plans to propose the recrea-
tional development in a bid on
"surplus property" up for sale or
lease in the park.
18 -hole golf course, a fitness
center, a hotel and a convention
center on that property.
JAC Developers are so far the
only group to respond to an of-
ficial invitation to bid on the pro-
perty. The invitation was publish-
ed Sunday by the city, and JAC's
id is still being g prepared.
Doug Sanders
A second company which has
expressed interest in developing
the property, golfer Jack
Nicklaus' Golden Bear Inc. of
West Palm Beach, Fla., has not
yet responded to the invitation.
Golden Bear has been talking with
industrial park officials here since
last fall.
Spokesmen for Golden Bear
JAC has hired The Dolce Co., a
Houston -based firm that has con- ('(
sulted in construction of high -
priced country club and fitness
centers internationally, to plan an
were not available for comment
Monday.
Both Sanders and Elmendorf
work as consultants for Andrew
Dolce, president of the Houston
firm. A spokeswoman for Dolce
said Monday that Sanders would
be "heavily involved" in the
Turn to NO, page l0A
N word from Nicklaus' firm
l'on industrial park bid invitation
From page IA
development while Elmendorf
would be coordinator of the
fitness center.
The city placed a legal notice in
weekend editions of the
Bryan - College Station Eagle in-
viting persons to contact City
Manager North Bardell about sub-
mitting a bid for part of 1,265
acres in the park owned by the ci-
ty;
Randall Pritchett, president of
ment, but "enjoyable for any
Saturday afternoon golfer."
He said that Sanders would be
consulting with Ferguson, but that
Ferguson would be the course ar-
chitect. The course, conference
center, hotel and fitness center
would all be developed by JAC
with Dolce consulting.
Joanne King, vice president of
marketing for Dolce, said the
company is excited about the pro-
ject.
JAC, said that the city wants to re-
tain ownership of the property
and that he would be willing to
lease the land.
The city has yet to work up its
bid specifications, which could
take 60 days to complete, ac-
cording to City Attorney Lowell
Denton. He said persons in-
terested in bidding on the property
have at least that much time in
which to contact the city.
The parcel on which JAC plans
"We're anxious and eager to do
it," she said. "Through Doug
Sanders, we heard about the pro-
perty. There's not anything like
(what JAC has planned) in that
area and we felt it would be
natural. It's just a burgeoning,
growing community."
Sanders acknowledged visiting
the community, but was noncom-
mittal about helping develop a
course here.
"I've been up there and I like
to bid contains roughly 550 acres
located in the eastern half of the
park property bordering Rock
Prairie Road.
To prepare for making the bid,
JAC hired local golf course design
consultant Dr. Marvin Ferguson
to draw up preliminary plans for a
course in the park.
Pritchett said he envisions a
course of between 6,800 and 7,200
yards suitable for a Southwest
Conference championship tourna-
(the area)," he said Monday.
"I've been looking at a lot of
areas in the state. I love Texas.
But I'd just rather not comment
until after my tournament."
Sanders is hosting a charity golf
tournament in Houston this week.
Among the projects developed
by Dolce are The Houstonian in
Houston's Galleria area and pro-
jects in Lake Tahoe, Palm Springs
and Las Hadas in Monzanillo,
Mexico.