Despite a troubling economy and a fall from grace for Tiger Woods, the Cliffs at High Carolina is continuing to move forward with the only Tiger Woods designed course in the U.S.
Cliffs Communities CEO Jim Anthony said that, thanks to a $60 million investment by residents in his other communities (in the form of bonds that will return 12 percent over seven years), plans can now continue to finish building the course and the clubhouse.
“The commitment made by the members at The Cliffs, and their belief in High Carolina and Jim’s leadership is wonderful to see,” Woods said, in statement provided to CNBC. “Since we announced the project in 2007, everyone at The Cliffs has been tremendously supportive of my first U.S. golf design. The more the project progresses, the more enthusiastic I become about the golf experience.”
Woods said, in the statement, that he was “looking forward to the day The Cliffs members and I can play the course.”
The course, which is now scheduled to open two years from now, is key to marketing the homes around it. There are 1,100 lots available in this community, but only 40 have been sold so far. The lots themselves cost $1 million, on average, with the homes themselves, being built for another $1 million to $2 million.
Anthony said he doesn’t feel that all the tabloid press about Woods has hurt his chances of selling high priced homes in this environment and sees greater signs of interest.
“Over the past 45 days, we’ve booked about 250 tours and, quite frankly, that’s more tours that we booked in a 45-day period in the last few years,” Anthony said.
Anthony said that Woods will visit the course again next Tuesday and that, while his family life is up in the air, he has picked out a place where he intends to build his home.
Anthony said he’s confident in the project, which he says requires patience.
“It takes two years to build a golf course,” Anthony said. “We’ll open the golf course in the spring of ’12. This is about a 10-year project.”
Woods’ other courses under development are in Mexico and in Dubai.
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