What’s the value of a brand? That’s an interesting question when it comes to Greg Norman – who has mixed an undeniably successful business career with a more controversial turn as the in-your-face face of LIV.
Norman has designed more than 100 golf courses around the world, from The National’s Moonah course and Brookwater here in Australia to Tiburon and ChampionsGate in Florida and the Fire course at Jumeirah in the United Arab Emirates. Less famous (and less successful) is his signature course outside Los Angeles, the former Golf Club of Vellano.
Designed as a part of a luxury condo and villa development, it struggled financially since its inception in 2006 and finally shut down in 2018. Now, the ghostly remnants of the 6,300-metre (6,900-yard) course and the 109 hectares (269 acres) it occupies are up for sale.
Fancy yourself a turnaround specialist? You’re going to need some serious cash and a lot of mowers to get the course back in shape for play. The property is offered at $US17.5 million for the course and 4,180-square-metre (45,000-square-foot) clubhouse – which has a wedding-venue tenant in place. Or, if the Tuscan-meets-Vegas-style architecture isn’t to your taste, the course and maintenance buildings are being offered alone for $US10 million. The question? Do you buff up the Norman design and wear the shark badge proudly or retool the layout within the constraints of a routing dictated by existing home sites?
Whatever a new buyer decides, the owners of the 175 homes surrounding the overgrown property will undoubtedly be thrilled. A 930-square-metre home within the course’s gated community is currently for sale for $US5.5 million, and empty lots are being offered for $US1 million.
Chino Hills is located about 80 kilometres east of LAX, on the border of Orange and San Bernardino counties. The population is 75,000 – and notably doesn’t include inmates at the California Institution for Men, the medium-security state prison located in neighbouring Chino.
