151 acres of the former golf course is still up for grabs. (Photo courtesy Taylor Long Properties)
Left with no offers she liked after a month-long auction, Arlene Simmons is once again weighing what to do with her half of the former Royal Virginian Golf Course in Goochland.
The head of local nonprofit Humanitarian Ambassadors of America Community Development Corp., which bought a 151-acre portion of the shuttered course last year, has relisted the property with an asking price of $1.5 million.
Simmons said the listing with Taylor Long Properties follows an auction last month with local firm Dudley Resources. She said the highest bid at auction was $750,000, the same price she paid for the property, so she turned it down.
She said she’s giving the latest, more conventional listing a 60-day run, after which she’ll decide how to proceed. That path may include bringing her original idea for the site back to the drawing board.
Arlene Simmons
Simmons’ group bought the property in May 2022 with an ambitious project in mind: the Gardens of Tranquility, which would have included a memorial for those who died from COVID-19.
The group then abandoned those plans and put the acreage up for sale through a traditional listing at $1.8 million, before trying an accelerated route via the auction with Dudley. Now it’s almost back to square one.
“We’re in a fluid position right now. If it doesn’t sell we’re still moving forward with the process,” for the gardens project, Simmons said.
The 258-acre Royal Virginian Golf Course has been shuttered since 2018. Simmons’ portion of the course sits at 3016 Royal Virginian Parkway and includes the 151 acres and the course’s 3,200-square-foot former clubhouse, which has received some upgrades since Simmons’ group took ownership.
The site is zoned A-1 and can accommodate any agricultural use.
The course’s remaining 107 acres are owned by Charlottesville businessman Justin Beights, who paid $750,000 for the entirety of the course in 2018 and sold the half to Simmons.
Beights then shuttered the course and has since floated uses for the pastoral property, including planting trees for conservation tax credits and creating substance abuse recovery homes near a pond on the site.
Prior to Beights, the course had fallen into foreclosure in 2011.
Beights said recently he’s considering using his portion of the course to build two substance abuse recovery houses overlooking the pond. He would then lease those homes to transitional housing providers.
151 acres of the former golf course is still up for grabs. (Photo courtesy Taylor Long Properties)
Left with no offers she liked after a month-long auction, Arlene Simmons is once again weighing what to do with her half of the former Royal Virginian Golf Course in Goochland.
The head of local nonprofit Humanitarian Ambassadors of America Community Development Corp., which bought a 151-acre portion of the shuttered course last year, has relisted the property with an asking price of $1.5 million.
Simmons said the listing with Taylor Long Properties follows an auction last month with local firm Dudley Resources. She said the highest bid at auction was $750,000, the same price she paid for the property, so she turned it down.
She said she’s giving the latest, more conventional listing a 60-day run, after which she’ll decide how to proceed. That path may include bringing her original idea for the site back to the drawing board.
Arlene Simmons
Simmons’ group bought the property in May 2022 with an ambitious project in mind: the Gardens of Tranquility, which would have included a memorial for those who died from COVID-19.
The group then abandoned those plans and put the acreage up for sale through a traditional listing at $1.8 million, before trying an accelerated route via the auction with Dudley. Now it’s almost back to square one.
“We’re in a fluid position right now. If it doesn’t sell we’re still moving forward with the process,” for the gardens project, Simmons said.
The 258-acre Royal Virginian Golf Course has been shuttered since 2018. Simmons’ portion of the course sits at 3016 Royal Virginian Parkway and includes the 151 acres and the course’s 3,200-square-foot former clubhouse, which has received some upgrades since Simmons’ group took ownership.
The site is zoned A-1 and can accommodate any agricultural use.
The course’s remaining 107 acres are owned by Charlottesville businessman Justin Beights, who paid $750,000 for the entirety of the course in 2018 and sold the half to Simmons.
Beights then shuttered the course and has since floated uses for the pastoral property, including planting trees for conservation tax credits and creating substance abuse recovery homes near a pond on the site.
Prior to Beights, the course had fallen into foreclosure in 2011.
Beights said recently he’s considering using his portion of the course to build two substance abuse recovery houses overlooking the pond. He would then lease those homes to transitional housing providers.
This never made any sense. Never passed the smell test.
Sometimes, when plans fall apart, she should just be pleased that she is getting back all her money (less transaction fees). Interest rates have jumped since she bought that property and it has definitely slowed development.
The sale of an asset by a non-profit organization raises concerns as it seeks to fetch a price more than double its 2018 purchase value. This discrepancy prompts questions about the organization’s motives and integrity. Furthermore, a quote regarding the gardens project, stating, “If it doesn’t sell, we’re still moving forward with the process,” can be perceived as a veiled threat, implying that the organization will proceed with their original purpose for the land regardless of the sale’s outcome. Transparency and accountability should be upheld, urging stakeholders to engage in respectful dialogue to seek clarification. Humanitarian Ambassadors of America Community… Read more »
Typical
Would be making money now as golf course big time, such a shame to those owners that still live around the old course. It was a fun tract to play back in the day! This whole thing seems odd, I guess it’s true Non-Profit doesn’t mean Not for Profit.