When the
Wisconsin Club purchased the Brynwood Country Club at 6200 W. Good Hope Road on Milwaukee’s north side in 2011, the 185-acre golf course was struggling and in need of repair.
Now 12 years later, after spending millions to repair and improve the course – renamed the Wisconsin Country Club – the club recently made the decision to sell the property in hopes of securing the legacy of its mainstay: the original Wisconsin Club in downtown Milwaukee, founded more than 130 years ago.
The city club recently sold the golf course, the country club business and all of the country club’s real and personal property – from vehicles and fertilizer to furniture and liquor – to Florida-based
Concert Golf Partners for roughly $6.3 million.
Rick Whiting, who serves as the city club’s secretary, confirmed the total sale price, which is more than twice the amount listed for just the real estate transaction itself – a figure recorded by the state as $2.5 million.
The decision to sell the course, which was approved by the majority of the city club’s roughly 1,200 members, came as a result of financial difficulties worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Whiting said.
“The Wisconsin Club was carrying in excess of $3 million in debt. It was held by Johnson Bank. They were looking at our income statement and basically said, 'You are about as leveraged as you can get,’” Whiting said.
The irony, said Whiting, is that it was the country club that had seen a resurgence in recent years, mainly as result of COVID-19 and the embrace of outdoor activities and sports that followed.
“The Wisconsin Club bought a dying country club 14 years ago. Then in 2020 we had a phenomenon – COVID – and suddenly the city club was struggling, and the dying country club was having a renaissance,” he said.
With indoor gatherings capped, membership took a hit. Whiting estimates the city club, which has a separate membership than the country club, lost about 300 members and it has not seen its membership levels return to pre-pandemic levels.
But while the country club was experiencing a new increase in usage and interest, dams on the 100-year-old golf course were deteriorating and in need of about $1.3 million in repairs.
“Most big decisions require a catalyst,” said Whiting, adding that when you consider the debt the club was already holding, selling the country club was one of only two real options.
The other option was assessing all city and country club members to help pay for the repairs.
“The more we took the temperature of the membership the more we realized that assessments would have been rather draconian, and we decided to sell the asset,” he said.
Although the bank will be withholding about $1.8 million of the $6.3 million to fund the dam repairs and other capital expenses at the golf course, that still leaves the club with about $4.5 million to pay its debts.
“The Wisconsin Club is now debt free with cash on the balance sheet,” Whiting said.
While there will likely be changes in operations at the country club itself – with a for-profit firm at the helm the private club won’t be limited to how much revenue it can generate from private events – most existing club and city members will still be able enjoy the greens and restaurants as they always have, at least for the next three years.
The county club itself currently has about 300 members, but city club-only member users are allowed to dine at the country club and get three "free" rounds of golf there as part of the city-club dues. And that reciprocity agreement will stay in place during the next few years.
Once the three years are up, Concert Golf Partners and Wisconsin Club leadership will sit down and decide if they want to keep some use agreement in place, Whiting said.
[caption id="attachment_571363" align="aligncenter" width="2560"]
The main entrance to the Wisconsin Club at 900 W. Wisconsin Ave. Constructed in 1848, with subsequent additions, it was originally the home of Milwaukee industrialist Alexander Mitchell. (Cara Spoto/BizTimes)[/caption]
