The Dominion Club, a private country club in the heart of Wyndham in western Henrico Country, is scheduled to change ownership Jan. 6.
The news was relayed to club members in a letter dated Friday from Daniel T. Schmitt, club manager and president and chief operating officer of HHHunt Corp., which developed the club and residential community.
Schmitt told the club’s 775 members that the future of the club will be bright under the leadership and management of Heritage Golf Group LLC, a San Diego-based owner and operator of U.S. private, resort and daily-fee golf facilities.
Heritage has been under contract to buy the club since August. Schmitt said at the time that Heritage was in a position to protect and enhance the value and reputation of the club.
The transaction — for a 28,000-square-foot clubhouse, swim and racquet facility, nine tennis courts, a restaurant and an 18-hole golf course — was struck with The Dominion Club LC and Loch Levan Land Limited Partnership, owner and manager of the club since 1992.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
“HHHunt established the club and other entities that own and operate the club 22 years ago,” Schmitt said in the letter. “We are proud of the Dominion Club, its rich history and exciting future and we have enjoyed our relationship with you over the years.”
One of the largest real estate development and management companies in Virginia, HHHunt has developed master-planned communities such as Wyndham, Wellesley and Twin Hickory in Henrico, Charter Colony in Chesterfield County and Rutland in Hanover County. It owns and manages 18 apartment communities, including one in the Richmond area, and 22 senior-living communities, including two here.
The cost for a full golf membership at the club is a $3,500 initiation fee with monthly fees of $422. A social membership, with access to all facilities except the golf course, is a $2,000 initiation fee with monthly dues of $204.
A group of Dominion members initially expressed an interest in buying the club, which prompted a bid process to determine a fair market price, hence the sale.
The club received six competitive proposals from national club operators and the independent membership group, Schmitt said.
The club had overcome some issues and, in January 2011, had to file for bankruptcy protection, but its sale was not part of a reorganization plan.
It filed for protection then because it was unable to pay back $1.7 million in refundable membership deposits due to some members at the time and it did not have $11.7 million in the pipeline to make future payments to other members owed refunds.
The club emerged from the bankruptcy a year after the initial filing.
Heritage owns four clubs in Hilton Head Island, S.C., one club in the Tampa Bay, Fla., area, another in Sarasota, Fla., and a club in Katy, Texas,
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