Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994 TAG: 9401240259
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: EC-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ When Club Resorts made official its purchase of The Homestead resort in October, two powerful men and kindred spirits sat down together.
Daniel Ingalls Sr., a former professor of Sanskrit at Harvard and the third generation of the family that owned the Bath County resort, met with Robert Dedman, chairman of ClubCorp International, a private company worth $884 million.
That fall day, Ingalls and Dedman made small talk about Ingalls' having just remarried and about their mutual interest in higher education. Dedman holds four college degrees: in business, in engineering and two in law.
They then explained the terms of the deal whereby the Ingalls family and other stockholders eventually will relinquish their holdings in The Homestead and Dedman's company will take it to greater glory.
Virginia Hot Springs Inc. made the deal because the historic property needed an infusion of cash to remain competitive, and the stockholders were not inclined to give it. Dedman's Texas operation had experience reviving similar properties through a subsidiary, Club Resorts Inc. It already had turned around the Pinehurst Hotel & Country Club in North Carolina, which was losing $1 million a year until Club Resorts bought it.
The Homestead deal was rocky, because there was a movement among employees to vote for union representation and Dedman's company didn't want to deal with a union. The vote was taken, and the union lost.
The union argued that Homestead employees were intimidated when they voted, because they had been told the place would close if Club Resorts didn't buy it, and Club Resorts wouldn't buy it if there was a union.
That all was settled, however. By the day of the closing, the new president of the Homestead, Gary Rosenberg, was in place, and the fourth-generation Ingalls, Daniel Ingalls Jr., who had been running the place, was free to return to computer research and development.
Dedman noted that The Homestead was the company's sixth resort. In addition to Pinehurst, it has Shangri-La in Afton, Okla.; Barton Creek in Austin, Texas; Shanty-Schuss in Bellaire, Mich.; and Quail Hollow in Ohio.
The Homestead was a prize, Dedman said. It had a history as a retreat for U.S. presidents, even world leaders, and it had room to add more championship golf courses.
"This is the grande dame," Dedman said.
Initially most important, he said, is to make the hotel profitable, to sell more room nights.
Since fall, some measures have been taken to cut costs. The Cascades Inn at the resort's Cascades course has been closed at least for a year, and staffing in the main hotel has been trimmed.
The new president said the number of guests who spent the holiday season at the resort was excellent, however.
The new owner has promised to spend $12.5 million getting The Homestead ready for a business revival, including work on existing golf courses, construction of a new course, addition of a golf school and some renovation inside the hotel, which is a National Historic Landmark.
Dedman also said it is his company's policy to set aside 7 percent of the gross revenue of a property to use for improvements, a policy that should keep the resort updated.
Among things to watch for at the Homestead will be how it will be marketed in package deals with other ClubCorp operations, and how air transportation to the resort eventually might be improved through the company's efforts.
\ CLUB RESORTS
A NEW NAME
The company: Club Resorts Inc. was founded in 1984 and is the country's largest privately held operator of golf and conference resorts, with annual revenue of more than $100 million. Club Resorts is an affiliate of Club Corporation of America, the world's largest operator of private city, country and athletic clubs. The two companies are the major subsidiaries of the $884 million ClubCorp International. Robert H. Dedman is founder and chairman of ClubCorp.
Headquarters: Dallas.
Roanoke Valley operations: Club Resorts last year bought The Homestead resort in Hot Springs. The Jefferson Club in Roanoke also is a ClubCorp operation.
by CNB