Short
when it announced plans to sell Coosaw Creek and
two of its courses in Hilton Head to the Heritage
Golf Group. Fearing the worst, that the club might
eventually be sold to a buyer that preferred home
Drive Home
sites to fairways and greens, residents of the commu-
nity sprang into action. Taking advantage of an agree-
ment with the developer that gave them first right
of refusal if the club was put up for sale, under the
for
leadership of Club President Jack Hall, they negoti-
ated a $2.5-million deal with 90-percent financing
Coosaw
and bought the property. Two years later, the acqui-
sition is working out quite well for residents of the
neighborhood, located off Dorchester Road, about a
30-minute drive from downtown Charleston.
“The biggest advantage is that you control your
Creek
own fate,” says Hall. “If someone else had bought it,
they would have to make a profit, possibly by cutting
expenses. We don’t have to make a profit. We just
have to pay our bills.”
Residents
“The other thing that con-
“They bought cerned us was that sometimes
the club.”
these companies buy a club,
make it profitable, then flip
it. They could have sold to a developer that wanted
When Greenwood
Development Corp.
to build homes instead of operating a golf course. In
decided to sell Coosaw
fact, that was the rumor when we decided to buy the
Creek and two other
courses to the Heritage
golf course. If you have control of the land, you can Golf Group, the resi-
protect it. The golf course enhances the value of our
dents took matters into
their own hands and
property, and we didn’t want to lose that.” bought the club.
According to Hall, the club, which includes ten-
nis courts, a swimming pool, basketball courts and
a 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, was losing money
when Greenwood decided to sell, a common situa-
living in New Orleans and the Washington, D.C.,
tion even in sunny South Carolina, where courses are
vicinity for 24 years. At the time, the neighborhood
playable year-round.
was about half built.
“The developer doesn’t care about making money
“Coosaw Creek is everything we thought it would
from a golf course,” he comments. “It’s not a business
be and more,” he says, pointing out that he narrowed
enterprise for them. It’s an attraction to sell homes.”
his home search based on the sterling reputation of
Greenwood might have lost interest in Coosaw
Dorchester School District 2. “There’s a real spirit
Creek after most of the 600 or so lots were sold and
about Coosaw Creek. The neighborhood is really
developed, but the people who live in the commu-
something special.”
nity certainly didn’t. Ron Brinson, president of the
As proof that Coosaw Creek is a community of
Coosaw Creek Owners Association, doesn’t regret
people and not simply a neighborhood of homes,
for a second his decision to move his family there in
Brinson cites an active women’s club that focuses
2002 when they returned to the Charleston area after
on charitable work, as well as golf tournaments that
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SND_18_CoosawCreek.indd 19 3/20/08 11:46:05 AM
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