Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990 TAG: 9003062266
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Grading has begun and the golf course is scheduled to open in the spring of 1991, according to Joe Thomas Sr., one of the partners. Thomas is president of Thomas Brothers Inc., excavating contractors.
The course will have "beautiful greens and beautiful fairways," Thomas said. It will be a par-73 course, with five par-5 holes. One of its par-4 holes will have two greens - a first for the Roanoke Valley. With 6,880 yards of play, it will qualify as a "championship" course.
The course will have a small clubhouse with a pro shop and a snack bar.
"We're building it for the man who drives up, gets his clubs out of the back of the car, puts on his shoes, plays 18 holes, gets a sandwich, puts the clubs back in the car and goes home," Thomas said.
There's a need for a new public golf course in the valley, he said. Existing courses are crowded. Roanoke wants to buy the Blue Hills Golf Club to expand its Centre for Industry and Technology. Salem's public golf course "isn't much fun," he said.
The partnership, called Hanging Rock Golf Club Inc., includes Roger Smith, owner of the Country Cookin' restaurant chain; N. Robert Rusinko of Sovran Bank; and Mike Gardner of Gardner-Smith Inc., contractors. Gardner's father, Warren, who died last month, was one of the partners.
Thomas said he and Warren Gardner, a longtime friend, "were down at Myrtle Beach a couple of years ago and started talking about building a golf course. Last year, we just decided to do it."
They were looking for a site off Virginia 311 when they found out the college property off Red Lane was available.
The property, which totals 250 acres, is owned by Roanoke College Investment Corp. The not-for-profit corporation was set up to manage the college's real estate holdings, according to William Walton, the college's vice president for business affairs.
Developer T.D. Steele is the investment corporation's president; former college president Norman Fintel is its vice president. Money made by the corporation supports the college's endowment, Walton said.
The college wanted to build a residential subdivision on the land. But Red Lane isn't served by public water or sewer and it was hard to get the land to perk for septic tanks.
"Last year, I would have laughed at the thought of building a golf course there," Walton said. But after learning of the partnership's plans, the corporation decided "it was a perfect marriage," he said.
The partnership signed a long-term lease with the corporation. It also will pay the corporation a percentage of the revenue from the golf course, Thomas said.
There is "a strong possibility" that the college will build a road linking Red Lane with Virginia 311 near Interstate Exit 40-A, Walton said. That would make it easier for golfers to get to the course. And it would allow county fire trucks and ambulances to bypass residential streets in Salem and get to Red Lane quicker.
The corporation could recoup the cost of building the road from the sale of residential lots on its remaining Red Lane property, Walton said.
Steve McGraw, who represents that part of the county on the Board of Supervisors, likes what he's heard.
The golf course "will improve the neighborhood tremendously," he said. "When I heard they'd dropped the idea of a subdivision and were going to build a golf course, I was pleased. It would be a real plus for the county."
As for the road, McGraw said, "We've wanted a road through there for years." The county might install a water line along the road to serve the golf course and the houses in the neighborhood, he said.
Excited as he is about the golf course, Thomas talks about it with a twinge of sadness. "Warren Gardner was a very important part of this project," he said. "I miss him a lot. I doubt if we could have put it together without his help."
by CNB