Lakeside Park Club, the golf and tennis club formerly known as Jefferson Lakeside Country Club, could soon be owned by someone other than its members for the first time in its 100-plus year history.
The club, located at 1700 Lakeside Ave. in Henrico, is in discussions to be sold to McConnell Golf, a North Carolina-based firm that owns 15 golf courses in three states, including two in Virginia.
The deal is still in its early stages, with McConnell having recently submitted a letter of intent to purchase the club and its 127 acres. That’s according to a letter sent to club members last week.
“They have expressed a strong interest in acquiring LPC and adding it to their expanding portfolio of existing McConnell properties,” stated the March 7 letter, which was obtained by BizSense.
The letter emphasizes that the member-owned club was not actively for sale and that the club did not initiate discussions with McConnell.
It says McConnell made the initial approach in fall of 2022, when it expressed interest and toured the property. The process was then put on hold until McConnell recently reengaged with renewed interest and submitting a LOI.
“Please note that this is a conceptual offer,” the member letter states. “We will be working diligently over the course of the next few weeks on the necessary ‘due diligence’ aspects of a transaction.”
It’s then expected that McConnell will present a more formal purchase agreement to begin negotiations with club leadership and present its plans to members.
The proposed purchase price, according to the letter, would be $2.6 million, equal to the amount of LPC’s outstanding debt. The club’s real estate, which sits near Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, was most recently assessed by Henrico County at around $1 million.
McConnell also would commit to investing up to $3 million for capital improvements to the club’s facilities over three years.
“At first glance this appears to be an excellent opportunity for both the club and its members. McConnell is a highly respected and successful organization,” the letter states. “Of equal importance, a $3 million infusion of cash directed toward our numerous capital improvement projects is significant in comparison to what our current circumstances would allow us to accomplish.
“Directing those funds into areas of the business that will improve the facilities will go a long way towards making LPC the club we always knew it could be,” the letter continued.
A temporary sign was put up when the club first changed names in 2020. (BizSense file)
As proposed, LPC would remain a private club and all current members would be offered membership with no new initiation fees required. Monthly dues currently range from $159-$489. Initiation fees range from $1,000 to $3,000.
Members will forfeit their equity in the current club as part of the deal. Dues would remain at their current rates for two years.
Once LPC was under McConnell ownership, the company would agree to fund any annual operating losses at the club.
Members would have the right to repurchase the club from McConnell within the first five years after closing for a price equal to the amount invested by McConnell, plus an annual 8 percent fee.
Full golf members from LPC will be able to play up to 12 times a year at McConnell’s other clubs with no additional greens fees. LPC golfers would also be eligible for interclub tournaments. McConnell’s other Virginia clubs are Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech in Radford, and Water’s Edge Country Club in Penhook.
Jeff Crabbe, head golf pro at LPC, reiterated last week that the sale process still has a ways to go to become a reality.
“We definitely would want it and need it to be supported by the membership,” he said.
Crabbe said initial reaction from members has been overwhelmingly positive, due to both McConnell’s reputation in the industry and the fact that the company owns other courses designed by Donald Ross, the prolific course architect who designed LPC.
“Members see the kind of facilities that McConnell Golf has, which are some of the top facilities in the country. We see the potential of joining that list with the support of a company like McConnell,” Crabbe said.
A shot of Lakeside Park Club’s 4th hole and fairway. (Courtesy LPC)
LPC’s golf course opened around 1915 on land that had been owned by Richmond businessman Lewis Ginter. The club was initially known as Lakeside Country Club and opened as a Jewish country club at a time when Jews weren’t welcome at other clubs in town. It became known as Jefferson Lakeside through a combination with The Jefferson Club, which was originally downtown and also catered to Richmond’s Jewish community.
The club changed its name from Jefferson Lakeside Country Club to Lakeside Park Club in 2020, in a bid to appeal to a wider audience.
Crabbe, who has been a golf pro for more than 20 years, said the club has around 400 members and has been a beneficiary of a golf boom over the last several years brought on by the Covid pandemic.
“Golf has kind of exploded over the past few years and we’ve seen a lot of benefit from that. We’ve seen the club grow and do well,” Crabbe said.
The club is in the midst of a round of improvements, including converting two of its five clay tennis courts into hard courts that can be used for both tennis and pickleball, the latter of which is exploding in popularity. The hard court surface will also allow for year-round play, which currently isn’t available on the all-clay courts.
A remodeling of the bathrooms at the club’s pool area is also underway.
Those upgrades are unrelated to the McConnell deal.
McConnell declined to comment on the pending deal when reached last week.
Lakeside Park Club, the golf and tennis club formerly known as Jefferson Lakeside Country Club, could soon be owned by someone other than its members for the first time in its 100-plus year history.
The club, located at 1700 Lakeside Ave. in Henrico, is in discussions to be sold to McConnell Golf, a North Carolina-based firm that owns 15 golf courses in three states, including two in Virginia.
The deal is still in its early stages, with McConnell having recently submitted a letter of intent to purchase the club and its 127 acres. That’s according to a letter sent to club members last week.
“They have expressed a strong interest in acquiring LPC and adding it to their expanding portfolio of existing McConnell properties,” stated the March 7 letter, which was obtained by BizSense.
The letter emphasizes that the member-owned club was not actively for sale and that the club did not initiate discussions with McConnell.
It says McConnell made the initial approach in fall of 2022, when it expressed interest and toured the property. The process was then put on hold until McConnell recently reengaged with renewed interest and submitting a LOI.
“Please note that this is a conceptual offer,” the member letter states. “We will be working diligently over the course of the next few weeks on the necessary ‘due diligence’ aspects of a transaction.”
It’s then expected that McConnell will present a more formal purchase agreement to begin negotiations with club leadership and present its plans to members.
The proposed purchase price, according to the letter, would be $2.6 million, equal to the amount of LPC’s outstanding debt. The club’s real estate, which sits near Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, was most recently assessed by Henrico County at around $1 million.
McConnell also would commit to investing up to $3 million for capital improvements to the club’s facilities over three years.
“At first glance this appears to be an excellent opportunity for both the club and its members. McConnell is a highly respected and successful organization,” the letter states. “Of equal importance, a $3 million infusion of cash directed toward our numerous capital improvement projects is significant in comparison to what our current circumstances would allow us to accomplish.
“Directing those funds into areas of the business that will improve the facilities will go a long way towards making LPC the club we always knew it could be,” the letter continued.
A temporary sign was put up when the club first changed names in 2020. (BizSense file)
As proposed, LPC would remain a private club and all current members would be offered membership with no new initiation fees required. Monthly dues currently range from $159-$489. Initiation fees range from $1,000 to $3,000.
Members will forfeit their equity in the current club as part of the deal. Dues would remain at their current rates for two years.
Once LPC was under McConnell ownership, the company would agree to fund any annual operating losses at the club.
Members would have the right to repurchase the club from McConnell within the first five years after closing for a price equal to the amount invested by McConnell, plus an annual 8 percent fee.
Full golf members from LPC will be able to play up to 12 times a year at McConnell’s other clubs with no additional greens fees. LPC golfers would also be eligible for interclub tournaments. McConnell’s other Virginia clubs are Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech in Radford, and Water’s Edge Country Club in Penhook.
Jeff Crabbe, head golf pro at LPC, reiterated last week that the sale process still has a ways to go to become a reality.
“We definitely would want it and need it to be supported by the membership,” he said.
Crabbe said initial reaction from members has been overwhelmingly positive, due to both McConnell’s reputation in the industry and the fact that the company owns other courses designed by Donald Ross, the prolific course architect who designed LPC.
“Members see the kind of facilities that McConnell Golf has, which are some of the top facilities in the country. We see the potential of joining that list with the support of a company like McConnell,” Crabbe said.
A shot of Lakeside Park Club’s 4th hole and fairway. (Courtesy LPC)
LPC’s golf course opened around 1915 on land that had been owned by Richmond businessman Lewis Ginter. The club was initially known as Lakeside Country Club and opened as a Jewish country club at a time when Jews weren’t welcome at other clubs in town. It became known as Jefferson Lakeside through a combination with The Jefferson Club, which was originally downtown and also catered to Richmond’s Jewish community.
The club changed its name from Jefferson Lakeside Country Club to Lakeside Park Club in 2020, in a bid to appeal to a wider audience.
Crabbe, who has been a golf pro for more than 20 years, said the club has around 400 members and has been a beneficiary of a golf boom over the last several years brought on by the Covid pandemic.
“Golf has kind of exploded over the past few years and we’ve seen a lot of benefit from that. We’ve seen the club grow and do well,” Crabbe said.
The club is in the midst of a round of improvements, including converting two of its five clay tennis courts into hard courts that can be used for both tennis and pickleball, the latter of which is exploding in popularity. The hard court surface will also allow for year-round play, which currently isn’t available on the all-clay courts.
A remodeling of the bathrooms at the club’s pool area is also underway.
Those upgrades are unrelated to the McConnell deal.
McConnell declined to comment on the pending deal when reached last week.
it seems like the land is undervalued here