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  #41  
Old Posted Jul 30, 2014, 8:48 PM
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curnhalio curnhalio is offline
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
Brightwood had the opportunity to purchase Grandview Golf Club a few years ago when the family that developed it decided to sell. It was available for a very reasonable cost but to my knowledge the Brightwood bunch never even seriously considered it. That was really their last best chance. Building a new course would cost something close to $10 million for the type of course a private club with members paying $2500 apiece per year demands, and they really don't have that kind of money unless the city wants to pay them what the property would be worth to a developer.
So, the city buys Brightwood out of the area, and then sells the land to a developer to cover the cost of the initial purchase. Brightwood would also have to have a piece of land available to re-build on. Does Gloria have any actual sway at this club or is she just a member that happens to have outside influence on what happens to the land itself?
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  #42  
Old Posted Jul 30, 2014, 10:40 PM
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Keith P. Keith P. is offline
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Originally Posted by curnhalio View Post
So, the city buys Brightwood out of the area, and then sells the land to a developer to cover the cost of the initial purchase. Brightwood would also have to have a piece of land available to re-build on. Does Gloria have any actual sway at this club or is she just a member that happens to have outside influence on what happens to the land itself?
Well, this is essentially what the club wanted to do itself in the early 2000s (except without the city as the middleman) but Gloria scuttled it because she didn't want it developed. That, plus her more recent stance to shoot down the development on Prince Albert Road a couple of years ago, means that until she is gone it is unlikely she will allow any development on the site.

Actually back in the 1970s Brightwood bought 400+ acres in Waverly to build a new course. But the club couldn't get out of its own way to actually do anything with it - the usual Dartmouth "we don't want anything to change here" attitude and they eventually sold it off. They also sniffed around the site of the old Whebby quarry that eventually became Dartmouth Crossing but again missed that opportunity. You need a minimum of 200 acres for a course of this type now. I presume there are such parcels around Dartmouth but I don't know what they would cost.
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  #43  
Old Posted Jul 30, 2014, 11:11 PM
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Keith P. Keith P. is offline
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I don't mind the decision to renovate the Forum and add an ice surface since it does have seating which the new 4-pads do not have, and it also has the hall space for bingo, flea markets, etc., which despite how people tend to mock those things, do bring in considerable revenue. Having been to the BMO Center in Bedford I really did not like it at all and am glad we are not building another one of those in Windsor Park. The building is characterless and just screams cheap, shoddy construction. It also completely fails to take into account any number of spectators.

My only real concern is that the Forum Commission members do not impress me as they types of folks I would want to entrust with a $30-40 million project like this. They mean well but when you see them talk they are not polished and do not have much in the way of management skills from what I can tell. This is a big and complicated project that includes restructuring the Forum to eliminate those damn roof support columns, and I do not think a volunteer board made up of septuagenarians and octogenarians is the right group to provide oversight.
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  #44  
Old Posted Jul 31, 2014, 3:09 PM
eastcoastal eastcoastal is offline
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Brightwood is slowly spiraling down. Their membership is down and they have been breaking even at best over the last few years. Most of their membership is older, and they are havng big problems trying to attract the type of members that are key to the viability of a golf club - the business types with expense accounts who use the club as a marketing tool. Those 30 and 40-somethings (usually but not always male) are no longer interested in Brightwood because the course is very short and is largely obsolete for those who like to hit the ball a long way. It is also a very difficult walking course due to the hilly terrain and those hills also make it less than satisfying to play. ...
According to the National Golf Foundation, 400,000 people stopped playing golf in America last year. I presume Canada is similar.

In any case, golf seems to be falling out of favour in terms of sports participation.
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  #45  
Old Posted Jul 31, 2014, 8:14 PM
hfx_chris hfx_chris is offline
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I wonder, is the sport truly falling out of favour, or are people just having a harder time affording the fees.
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  #46  
Old Posted Aug 1, 2014, 12:05 AM
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I wonder, is the sport truly falling out of favour, or are people just having a harder time affording the fees.
Perhaps all the folks in the US that went bankrupt.
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  #47  
Old Posted Aug 1, 2014, 2:14 AM
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resetcbu1 resetcbu1 is offline
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I would love to see the Forum renovated and rejuvenated to it's previous "glory", I always thought it was neat and wish I had the opportunity to see it in it's hay day!

As for the golf , I'm in my early 30's and a blue collar guy but I play regularly as do ALL of my friends.
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