Truro Daily News - News - Local

Article

Print
Send to a friend
Comment (3)

Foreclosure notice given to operators of Ocean Links golf course

Published on October 19, 2012; Published on October 19, 2012

Topics :: J.A. MacFarlane Engineering Co. Ltd. of Toronto , Ocean Links Development Inc. of Truro , Nova Scotia Supreme Court , Ontario , Brule Point Road

BRULE - Ocean Links Development Inc. on the Brule Shore has been given notice of foreclosure by an Ontario mortgage holder.

In court documents filed recently by J.A. MacFarlane Engineering Co. Ltd. of Toronto, it is alleged that Ocean Links Development Inc. of Truro has defaulted on a $785,000 mortgage agreement for lands on Brule Point Road.

The plaintiff is claiming a total of $842,096.03, including interest and fees.

In default, it is asking Nova Scotia Supreme Court for a foreclosure, sale and possession order.

The action also names David. R. Annis, F. Kent Williams, Colin T. Fowlie, J. Gary Chambers and Derek J. Forsyth as defendants and mortgage guarantors.

All are listed as directors of Ocean Links Development, whose business is described as a golf resort on the provincial registry of joint stock companies.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Rate
Top of the page

Comments

BYEOCEANLNKS

- May 8, 2013 at 10:23:55

Bummer nonetheless. Anyone know if there has been any news regarding the property since this article? Interested to know what will happen with the property.

Submit a comment

Submit a comment Your name* Email* (we keep all emails private) Write your comment here*
Agreement
We ask that users remain courteous. You may not post insulting, discriminatory or inappropriate content, which may be removed at our discretion. We are not responsible for user content and opinions. Use of this site as well as content submission & ownership are governed by our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.

Member organizations should be non-profit in nature, and promote legal activities. Any organization found promoting illegal activities or commercial products or services will be deleted from the site.

Conditions I agree with these conditions.
HAPPY GILMORE

- October 19, 2012 at 23:23:28

NO BIG SURPRISES HERE….Another build it and they will come golf course….guess not. I didn’t attend any meetings on this development but in my opinion, I knew at the pace the project was going it would be 20 years before this idea completely happened and probably under a number of different ownership groups by then. There are many reasons why this project has failed and will continue at a snails- pace… 1. Lack of golfers….Golf has been in recession since 2008, not only from falling money markets but also from the glut of new courses built in the late 1990s and early to mid 2000s. New courses don’t create new golfers; they just take them from other courses. There is an oversupply of golf holes in the Nova Scotia marketplace now. Why drive to Brule Point to play an unfinished course? 2. Like the real world recession, golf is still in a freefall, and has yet to totally play out. Early in the recession, golf clubs, to fight declining memberships, offered discounted green fees to make up for the difference in revenue not being met by the number of too high priced memberships not being sold. This further complicated the value of club memberships, which declined further because members decided to take advantage of the cheaper green fees for the amount of golf they played rather than the high cost to join for few rounds of play. Now what is happening, and we seen it this spring with all the Truro courses, is the difference between the discounted green fees being bought and memberships being sold aren’t enough to pay the bills and clubs were forced to discount their memberships in season, just to open the doors. Why drive to Brule Point to play an unfinished course? 3. Any business is dependent on its 5-minute walk- twenty-minute drive market clientele. The links local market, the cottagers, are never there. Really, they aren’t….and most are only there on weekends, and only sporadically may thru sept, hardly at all Oct to May. There is a short short season at Brule Point. The 20-minute local population is not large enough to support this type of development, especially with Northumberland and Fox Harb’r in play. Why drive to Brule Point to play an unfinished course? 4. In an earlier TDN story, " Forsyth said the best part is it's going to be affordable," "It's not going to be $100-plus green fees. The prices will be indicative of our area. " High end course maintenance and equipment that this course would use is killing golf, what use to take 4 men to do, takes 8 or more. This results in excessive maintenance costs and as a result, memberships and green fees become too high. There was no way this course was going to be affordable. Why drive to Brule Point to play an unfinished course? 5. In an earlier TDN story, " Forsyth said there will also be 140 half-acre cottage lots offered for sale with Phase 1 seeing 48 offered this summer. The lots will all feature an ocean view and encircle the course”…… Real estate investment for 2 months use? Probably not. Most shacks on the beach are a hundred grand over there. If you can afford to build here, why not build at Fox harbr. Insurance and trespassing issues with homes adjacent to the fairways will drive homeowners, staff and club owner’s nuts. Why build a house on an unfinished golf course? 6. In an earlier TDN story, " Forsyth said an old farmhouse on the current course will also be redone and become the new clubhouse. Also in the plans are a pool and teaching academy. Another drain on revenues and resulting high membership costs. A clubhouse and pool never to be used. Cottagers eat and drink at their cottage, non-locals drive home. Renovating an old cottage didn’t work well for the previous owner, a million on an old farmhouse…for a new course? Nah. Why drive to Brule Point to play an unfinished course with renovated old farm clubhouse? No wonder these guys couldn’t pay the mortgage….these are just a few of the many problems this project is encumbered with. The nine-hole course was a moneymaker the way it was…$20 bucks a round. If this project is to succeed, the owners, or the bank better get HAPPY on board!

Submit a comment

Submit a comment Your name* Email* (we keep all emails private) Write your comment here*
Agreement
We ask that users remain courteous. You may not post insulting, discriminatory or inappropriate content, which may be removed at our discretion. We are not responsible for user content and opinions. Use of this site as well as content submission & ownership are governed by our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.

Member organizations should be non-profit in nature, and promote legal activities. Any organization found promoting illegal activities or commercial products or services will be deleted from the site.

Conditions I agree with these conditions.
- Fore
  
  - October 23, 2012 at 05:47:09
  
  You are bang on Happy! The Brule Course as it is/was is all you need in that area.

Submit a comment

Submit a comment Your name* Email* (we keep all emails private) Write your comment here*

Agreement

We ask that users remain courteous. You may not post insulting, discriminatory or inappropriate content, which may be removed at our discretion. We are not responsible for user content and opinions. Use of this site as well as content submission & ownership are governed by our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.

Member organizations should be non-profit in nature, and promote legal activities. Any organization found promoting illegal activities or commercial products or services will be deleted from the site.

I agree with these conditions.