Park Hill Golf Club seen from the air. (BusinessDen file photo)
The operator of the Park Hill Golf Course claims it was unfairly left out in the cold while the land owner negotiated to sell the 155-acre course to the City of Denver for $20 million.
Texas-based Arcis Golf, which leases the public golf course from nonprofit owner Clayton Early Learning, claims in a lawsuit filed last week that Clayton violated its lease when it announced a deal to sell the club without first giving Arcis its contractual “right of first refusal.”
It’s asking the court to enforce the lease and for an order allowing it to buy the course for the same terms as the deal with the city.
Clayton and the city announced a potential deal in September. It eventually fizzled when the city learned Arcis was still in the picture and might bid on the land or renew its lease to keep running the golf course.
Arcis claims in its lawsuit, filed last week by Frank Visciano from Senn Visciano Canges, that it sent letters demanding to see the “written notice of the terms and conditions of the city’s offer” and then be allowed 30 days to deliberate a purchase of its own.
Visciano declined to comment. Arcis did not respond to several calls seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit, Clayton did not consider the deal with the city a “bona fide” offer, and repeatedly told Arcis in letters that no “right of first refusal” applied.
Clayton CEO Charlotte Brantley said in a phone interview that there was never any secrecy about negotiations with the city, and that Clayton’s attorney – Bruce James from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck – was keeping Arcis’ attorney informed.
“The only time their contractual right is triggered is after the city council approved it and if the mayor signed it,” Brantley said. “Neither of those things happened.”
The putting green at Park Hill Golf Course. (Aaron Kremer)
Arcis sees it differently, and considered the offer “bona fide,” according to the lawsuit.
“The City has clearly and unequivocally manifested its willingness in writing to be bound to purchase the Park Hill Golf Course, and therefore Arcis Golf had a right of first refusal under Article 24 of the lease. The Trust also clearly and unequally manifested its willingness in writing to be bound to sell the Park Hill Golf Course to the City.”
Arcis also claims in the suit it was strong-armed to give up its lease in October 2017 instead of waiting until the July 2018 deadline.
Arcis has a 20-year lease for $700,000 per year to run the course that expires at the end of 2018. The lease also says Arcis has until July 1 to renew for another five or 10 years on similar terms.
“If Arcis Golf did not agree to waive its right to extend the lease early then the (Clayton) Trust would seek to collect millions of dollars from Arcis Golf at the end of the lease term for repairs to Park Hill Golf Course that the trust claims are required under the lease.”
Brantley said Clayton and Arcis have discussed the deferred maintenance of the parcel.
“We have not given them an invoice for millions of dollars,” she said, adding that the lawsuit left her scratching her head.
“We’ve never been anything but transparent and open,” Brantley said. “We’re very disappointed they’ve taken this stance. It feels to us like they’re disregarding the mission of this institution and that this piece of land is here to serve the needs of disadvantaged students.”
Park Hill Golf Club seen from the air. (BusinessDen file photo)
The operator of the Park Hill Golf Course claims it was unfairly left out in the cold while the land owner negotiated to sell the 155-acre course to the City of Denver for $20 million.
Texas-based Arcis Golf, which leases the public golf course from nonprofit owner Clayton Early Learning, claims in a lawsuit filed last week that Clayton violated its lease when it announced a deal to sell the club without first giving Arcis its contractual “right of first refusal.”
It’s asking the court to enforce the lease and for an order allowing it to buy the course for the same terms as the deal with the city.
Clayton and the city announced a potential deal in September. It eventually fizzled when the city learned Arcis was still in the picture and might bid on the land or renew its lease to keep running the golf course.
Arcis claims in its lawsuit, filed last week by Frank Visciano from Senn Visciano Canges, that it sent letters demanding to see the “written notice of the terms and conditions of the city’s offer” and then be allowed 30 days to deliberate a purchase of its own.
Visciano declined to comment. Arcis did not respond to several calls seeking comment.
According to the lawsuit, Clayton did not consider the deal with the city a “bona fide” offer, and repeatedly told Arcis in letters that no “right of first refusal” applied.
Clayton CEO Charlotte Brantley said in a phone interview that there was never any secrecy about negotiations with the city, and that Clayton’s attorney – Bruce James from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck – was keeping Arcis’ attorney informed.
“The only time their contractual right is triggered is after the city council approved it and if the mayor signed it,” Brantley said. “Neither of those things happened.”
The putting green at Park Hill Golf Course. (Aaron Kremer)
Arcis sees it differently, and considered the offer “bona fide,” according to the lawsuit.
“The City has clearly and unequivocally manifested its willingness in writing to be bound to purchase the Park Hill Golf Course, and therefore Arcis Golf had a right of first refusal under Article 24 of the lease. The Trust also clearly and unequally manifested its willingness in writing to be bound to sell the Park Hill Golf Course to the City.”
Arcis also claims in the suit it was strong-armed to give up its lease in October 2017 instead of waiting until the July 2018 deadline.
Arcis has a 20-year lease for $700,000 per year to run the course that expires at the end of 2018. The lease also says Arcis has until July 1 to renew for another five or 10 years on similar terms.
“If Arcis Golf did not agree to waive its right to extend the lease early then the (Clayton) Trust would seek to collect millions of dollars from Arcis Golf at the end of the lease term for repairs to Park Hill Golf Course that the trust claims are required under the lease.”
Brantley said Clayton and Arcis have discussed the deferred maintenance of the parcel.
“We have not given them an invoice for millions of dollars,” she said, adding that the lawsuit left her scratching her head.
“We’ve never been anything but transparent and open,” Brantley said. “We’re very disappointed they’ve taken this stance. It feels to us like they’re disregarding the mission of this institution and that this piece of land is here to serve the needs of disadvantaged students.”
The city of Denver, with help from our corrupt city council and mayor, has
wanted the land for years. They will do anything they can to add density
to Denver’s population. Times are changing. I’m just glad I’ll be dead by the time Mary Beth Susman’s dreams have come true: Traffic Jams Everywhere.
It’s driving local businesses into bankruptcy – people are shopping on Amazon.
Who wants to drive through snarled traffic to purchase something you can get on Amazon?
Clayton was managed by Denver for years and i hear that there was a lot of skulduggery. It now has a Board that is peppered with development types. Clayotn is essentially a private school. the tax payers of Denver gave Clayton $2,000,000 in 1999 to get a conservation easement that would keep the golf course , open land until 2099. Clayton also got a bunch of tax breaks as a result of the payment.
Clayton is asking the tax payers for $24,000,000 more to subsidize its private school. CRL Associates is holding bogus “public Meetings” to “vision” how development could play a role in the “new” park hill golf course. they forget that there is plenty of empty land around park hill golf course that could be used for “affordable housing” and grocery stores. all of the “visioning” is just to placate the public . It means nothing until after the land wold be sold and the new developers and markets could be a part of any negotiation.
North park hill has no parks. PHCG is the last piece of “publicly owned ” open land in the area. Denver’s ratio of parks to people is shrinking. Hancock is using parks for development and to raise funds for the city. Denver is a good place to live because it has parks. We will also need open spaces to capture , clean and store rain water as drought take s a hold of Denver. We need al of the trees, to cool the rapidly warming city . Trees also put carbon back into the ground and make oxygen. if we cover it all up with buildings we will cut our nose to spite our faces.