VIRGINIA BEACH — One of the city’s prized golf courses has fallen into disrepair and needs millions of dollars of work to bring it up to par.
Virginia Beach National Golf Club off Princess Anne Road will soon undergo a first wave of repairs at a cost of $1.4 million. The Virginia Beach Development Authority, which leases the property from the city, greenlighted the work at its July 9 meeting.
According to a city audit, several lakes on the property are in “degraded” condition and need to be dredged and cleaned. And the clubhouse has rotting eaves and fascia board along the roofline; there’s mold and rotting baseboards in the clubhouse restaurant; and the ceiling is deteriorating due to leaks.
“It’s a beautiful golf course, but the building is a 23-year-old building,” City Auditor Lyndon Remias said in October when he presented the audit to the Virginia Beach Development Authority, a city agency tasked with expanding the tax base by attracting business investment. “It’s just like your house. You can have a beautiful lawn, but your roof is falling apart, your trim is rotting, and the AC’s out. Basically, that’s what is happening at the building.”
The golf course fell to the wayside when a longtime economic development employee responsible for managing the development authority’s assets left the city in 2019, Remias said.
“There was no one who picked up the ball and ran with it,” development authority chair Lisa Murphy said at the meeting last fall.
The city has since hired Pam Witham, a planner in the department, to oversee the authority’s assets, which include more than two dozen properties across the city.
“We’re going to move forward and correct the issues that need to be taken care of,” Witham said by phone this week.
The audit, available at virginiabeach.gov, also revealed discrepancies in the authority’s procurement procedures for previous improvement projects at the course.
Virginia Beach Golf Club LLC., a private company, manages the course and makes monthly payments to the authority based on a percentage of revenues generated to help fund capital improvements. In addition, the company annually remits 25% of the net income generated by the golf course in excess of $100,000.
In 2023, Virginia Beach National had a net income, or profit, of $740,000. Heron Ridge Golf Club, which is leased from the Development Authority by the same private entity, had $669,000 in profit, according to the city.
The scope of the October audit was from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2023 and included policies, processes, and procedures in place at the time of the audit. It was the first time Remias’ office has audited the golf course.
The auditor’s report noted that semi-annual inspections by the city or the authority as outlined in the management agreement were not being conducted. Also, approvals for previous improvement projects were made after completion rather than before and that city procurement procedures weren’t properly followed.
Over the past several months, the authority has paid more than $100,000 in facility assessments and inspections in preparation of fixing the issues.
Witham told authority members at their July 9 meeting that $1.9 million is needed for all the structural repairs to buildings on the golf course property, and it will cost an additional $5.7 million to bring all 11 lakes up to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s standards.
The facility spans over 300 acres of land and consists of an 18-hole golf course designed by Pete Dye and Curtis Strange, practice areas and a clubhouse which includes a full-service restaurant.
Remias also said annual inspections of the lakes at Virginia Beach National performed by Public Works had not been provided to the authority as they should’ve been. Public Works has deemed some of the lakes are in “serious” and “degraded” condition.
Murphy formed an asset management committee in October to help prioritize the golf course repairs.
“They were tasked with viewing the whole report with staff and talking to the operator as far as what the report showed and helping to prioritize the repairs based on recommendations,” Witham said.
The authority agreed to start with the clubhouse, providing roughly $400,000 to replace the roof and gutters and another $200,000 for new air-conditioning systems. Additional money has been set aside for contingencies because of moisture damage, according to Witham. Also, a lake near the back of the property will be improved at a cost of roughly $520,000, she said.
“The other items that were identified, they’re going to be repaired as funding becomes available,” Witham said Wednesday.
The authority’s current balance for capital repairs at the golf course is $2.1 million, Witham said, but money from the authority’s previous sale of land in Corporate Landing Business Park and the Innovation Park will fund the first wave of the work.
Virginia Beach National Golf Club, formerly Tournament Players Club of Virginia Beach, opened on a former bean field in 1999 with the hope of making the city a renowned golf destination. The city paid $3.5 million to help build the $15 million course, according to The Virginian-Pilot archives.
But the course underperformed, and Virginia Beach bought it for roughly $4.5 million in 2006 to maintain control of the land.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, [email protected]
Source Agencies
