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Hope Grows for Golf Course: Some Residents Surrounding Closed Coldstream Say Prospects Good For

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Clif Leblanc, The State, Columbia, S.C., The State, Columbia, S.C.

Dec. 27--With a couple of legal hurdles cleared, residents of Coldstream are hoping their closed golf course once again will become an asset to their subdivision.

But major obstacles remain. The 92-acre course faces foreclosure, and no one has stepped up to buy the property.

Residents recognize the reality of the situation, yet some keep hoping for the best.

"It's a 92-acre fire ant farm," said longtime resident Sam Painter, who lives on the 15th green. "I'd like for it to be pretty and green again."

Painter, who has been active in efforts to reopen the course that closed during the summer, predicts it will be back in the spring.

"There are three really good prospects right now," he said, declining to name the potential buyers.

"I'd like to see somebody who has an interest in golf courses to take it over once it is sold," said Painter, an attorney.

The course fell into disrepair while it was managed by a company that operated as Coldstream Golf Club.

Michael Cox, another resident active in the dispute, is a little more skeptical than Painter.

"What everybody wants is for it to remain a golf course," Cox said. "The question is how do we get there."

The community does not have the money to buy the course, so its future is in the hands of mortgage holders -- the National Bank of South Carolina and former owner Charles Yarid, according to Cox.

The key, Cox said, is NBSC, which has a $3.9 million claim on Coldstream and Oak Hills courses.

The bank declined to comment, citing the foreclosure lawsuit.

Yet neighbors are buoyed by two developments.

A bankruptcy case ended Nov. 30, clearing the way for Lexington County Council to rezone the 92 acres.

Rezoning it to single-family residential will block construction of apartments, condominiums or other high-density developments, neighbors said.

NBSC and Yarid had asked a bankruptcy judge to stop the rezoning effort. They argued that rezoning would undervalue the land and keep it from attracting the best price.

On Nov. 30, bankruptcy Judge John E. Waites threw out the case, including the request to block the rezoning.

County Council is likely to take up the issue in January, county administrator Art Brooks said.

In September, hundreds of Coldstream residents and others nearby rallied in favor of the rezoning. They signed petitions and flooded council chambers.

As the year draws to a close, many Coldstream residents long for a return to a course that once had 300 members, which Painter said dropped to 50 in August.

Its grounds have been damaged by motorcycles and four-wheelers.

Its swimming pool is closed and the clubhouse vandalized.

Still, Painter sees what can be.

"What other golf courses are (close to) 1,400 homes; three miles from an interstate; one mile from a recreational lake?"

"That is a gold mine," Painter said. "It is waiting for the right person to come along."

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com [mailto:cleblanc@thestate.com].

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Copyright (c) 2005, The State, Columbia, S.C.

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Source: The State (Columbia, S.C.)

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