CHERRY HILL, NJ-This township will bid on the bankrupt Woodcrest Country Club at auction next month, with a plan to re-open it as a golf course or keep it as open space. The Union League of Philadelphia indicated earlier this week that it would do the same.
Cherry Hill's mayor, Chuck Cahn, said that the township would be happy if the Union League won the bidding and kept the golf club open, but was making its own push to help forestall the prospect of development. The club entered Chapter 11 proceedings last year.
“We don't want to leave anything for chance,” Cahn said at a Wednesday press conference. He said local officials “do not, and will not, support any change in zoning from the property's currently institutional designation.”
The Marlton group, Cherry Hill Land Associates, has said it will not use the property for golf – although its lawyer did not specify a use.
Developer Bruce Toll has said he is interested in building a medical campus at the site. Also, Crestwood Property Group had made a previous offer of $5.1 million for the club.
Crestwood's principals are members of the Brown family who are on the board of the club's creditor, Sun National Bank of Vineland. The bank is owed $11.8 million.
Bidding will start at $6.5 million, which is the price of purchase agreed upon by a Marlton real estate group, should no higher bids emerge, according to terms set by a bankruptcy judge. Mayor Chuck Cahn has asked Camden County for backing in the bid to secure the 155-acre property as green space.
Cherry Hill has a $1 million public open-space trust fund. The County has about $11 million set aside for open space, according to Freeholder Jeff Nash. He told reporters that County officials are open to the idea of contributing to a bid for Woodcrest.
Maintaining Woodcrest as open space is probably high-priority, since the area around it is highly built up, said the Freeholder. On the other hand, he noted that County tax records show that the golf course property had been assessed this year at $5.43 million, whereas the bidding begins well above that.
Cahn and Nash said they would seek assistance from the state Green Acres Program, which provides municipal grants for purchase of open space land. The Department of Environmental Protection program is currently accepting applications, but has run out of money until a new influx is approved by state budget officials.
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