Following a strategic review of its UK golf portfolio, Crown Golf has taken the decision to offer St Mellion International Resort for sale.
St Mellion has undergone major investment under Crown Golf’s ownership, including a modern new 80-bedroom resort hotel complex with spa, banqueting and conferencing facilities plus significantly enlarged clubhouse facilities, as well as a redevelopment of the Kernow Course and refurbishment of the world-renowned Nicklaus Signature Course, which was the first British golf course designed personally by the 18-time Major-winner, Jack Nicklaus.
The new-look St Mellion International Resort reopened in 2009, and has become one of the UK’s best-loved golf and leisure destinations, with 36 spectacular holes of golf located in a secluded Cornish valley with easy access to the South West’s numerous other attractions.
Despite challenging economic conditions at the time of the relaunch St Mellion has enjoyed robust trading and continuous growth since 2009, winning a number of major travel and golf industry awards.
In December 2014 the Resort received outline planning approval to develop an additional 265 holiday homes on the 325-acre site, and has since received a number of unsolicited approaches from resort operators and developers.
Plans are also well advanced at St Mellion for the development of a new 10 room spa facility which, subject to the sale, would be ready to open April 2016.
Crown Golf’s Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Towers, said: “With the grant of the planning permission for the new holiday homes, St Mellion International Resort now represents an enormous opportunity as a property development to the right buyer.
“The new holiday homes also offer a significant potential trading enhancement to the current income streams, and their eventual completion will boost the long-term profitability of the resort.
“However, we regard the completion of the holiday homes development at St Mellion as being outside of our core operational business. Therefore, we believe that with the economy returned to growth, and particularly with the increased recent levels of interest in the UK golf resort market by property developers, now is exactly the right time to offer this unique opportunity to the market, although any sale would naturally be conditional on full value being achieved.
“Meanwhile it remains business as usual at the Resort, and we look forward to giving a warm St Mellion-style welcome to many thousands of golfers this season, as we always do!”
The St Mellion International Resort sale offering is being managed by CBRE.
Crown Golf remains the UK’s largest and most innovative golf operator with over 30 golf courses under direct ownership and a further six under the Crown Golf Open Play scheme, which is available as an exclusive benefit to the group’s members.
Crown Golf www.crown-golf.co.uk
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