Talamore and Old York CC, which last November became the
fifth club to join the Talamore Family of
Clubs, will part ways, beginning in 2013.
In a letter to members this
week, Talamore owner Bob Levy said the association with Old York CC, in Chesterfield, South Jersey,
had been a deal to manage the club, not buy it. Now, he told Talamore members, Old York’s
owner, Corinne Eget, had decided she
wanted to sell the club. Levy said
he is not prepared to be the buyer.
"We did explore the
possibility of purchasing Old York
at this time;" Levy wrote to
members. "However, based on near
term plans and commitments at our other Club, the timing was just not right."
Reached by phone Wednesday, Levy reiterated what he wrote in the
letter. "Honestly, it just didn’t
fit my timing," he said.
Instead, Levy said he and Talamore will assist and support Mrs. Eget in the sale of the club, which she said in a separate
letter to Old York CC members that she
hopes to complete within 60 days.
Mrs. Eget
has retained a Dallas brokerage firm, Fairway
Advisors, to sell Old York CC. Fairway
Advisor’s website lists the property
for $3.9 million. Offers are
due by Sept. 28, according to the listing.
In her letter to members, Mrs. Eget said it is with a "heavy
heart" that she is selling the club, which she had owned and operated for 19
years with her late husband, Ed.
"Since Ed’s passing in 2010 I have remained focused on fulfilling his
legacy and dream while trying to analyze my life’s priorities," wrote Mrs. Eget. "At this stage of my life,
and without Ed, the physical and
emotional commitment required to own the Club is simply no longer feasible."
In her letter, Mrs. Eget also raised the possibility
of selling Old York to the existing non-equity
members, turning it into an equity club.
One obvious question is what
all this means, if anything, for Levy’s
pursuit of the strategy he calls the "multi-club" concept -- offering a single membership that gives
members access to several clubs that are diverse in every way, including
geographically, while enabling Talamore
to consolidate and cut costs.
When Old York CC joined the Talamore
fold last fall, it was the fifth club in Talamore’s
family of clubs. Levy started with Talamore CC, in Ambler, more than 20 years ago; then came Talamore Resort and the Mid South Club,
both in the Pinehurst, N.C., area. In 2010, Levy added Applecross CC,
in Downingtown.
A year or so ago, Levy and Talamore explored acquiring LuLu
CC, in North Hills, which was struggling financially at the time; nothing
came of it.
Levy said the
exit of Old York from the Talamore Family will have no effect on his pursuit of the
"multi-club" concept going forward.
As potential deals come his way, he’ll continue to evaluate them on a
case by case basis.