Save Tower Tee in St. Louis, MO!

[Tim Williamson]

Save Tower Tee: There has been a good deal of discourse recently on the future of Tower Tee. The land is under contract to a Home Developer. We don't need more McMansions, we need Tower Tee. TT has been the place where so many of us developed our game and we can't let it go. Discussions are continuing in the days and weeks ahead. If you want to lend your voice and presence to the process, please attend the St Louis County meeting at 7pm on Monday, November 13 at 41 S Central in Clayton, County Council Chambers where an application for a zoning change will be discussed before the planning commission. There will be a chance for friends of Tower Tee to make their voices heard. Please look for and like the "Save Tower Tee" Page on Face book. And please attend the meeting on Monday, November 13. 

[iacas]

What's a better title for this topic, @Tim Williamson?

This isn't a Member Outing & Meetup.

[Tim Williamson]

Save Tower Tee in St Louis. I can no longer edit it.

[mcanadiens]

We here in the Dayton, OH area just had a place like that shutter. Rollandia GC, a range and par-3 course, is set to become an apartment complex. It's a pity since that was the best place for beginners to start.

[Club Rat]

@iacas can you move the topic to a different forum category?

Tim is posting local news about a golf facility in the St Louis area which has been around for a very long time.
The property was under a lease agreement and the owners may lose the ability to renew if the local government changes the property zoning I believe.
Anyway, Tower Tee has and is IMO a St Louis landmark for the golfing community.
It is the roots of my game, I used the range for many years along with the Par 3 course on the property.

Unfortunately, $$ preside over golfers and if the facility loses the lease, the STL golfers will lose a popular practice facility.
Also unfortunately, STL does not have many driving ranges. So to lose one of the few there are would be a loss to local golfers. 

[Tim Williamson]

1 hour ago, Club Rat said:

Unfortunately, $$ preside over golfers and if the facility loses the lease, the STL golfers will lose a popular practice facility.
Also unfortunately, STL does not have many driving ranges. So to lose one of the few there are would be a loss to local golfers. 

Couldn't have said it better myself. Tower Tee has been a golf gem for the St. Louis area for 54 years. I doubt that I would have ever developed a love for the game if it had not been for Steve Lotz and Tower Tee practice facility. It serves everyone from kids to High Schools, College teams, every level of golfer in the area. It would be tragic to loose Tower Tee. It's a St. Louis institution, like Ted Drewe's, the Arch or the Cardinals. I hope we get a huge turnout on November 13--it's our best chance to save Tower Tee.

[David in FL]

We tend to blame others, but sadly, it's the St Louis golf community that has spoken.  

For whatever reason, they're the ones that haven't supported this location enough to allow it to survive...

[billchao]

7 hours ago, David in FL said:

We tend to blame others, but sadly, it's the St Louis golf community that has spoken.  

For whatever reason, they're the ones that haven't supported this location enough to allow it to survive...

From what the other posters are saying, the place isn't insolvent. Their lease is coming to an end and the company that owns it put it up for sale. One of the bidders for the property is a real estate developer that wants to turn it into a housing development. If anything it seems to be a very popular place for golf and the golf community has little say about what will happen to it.

Here's a recent article I found about it.

[billchao]

We had a place near us close for similar reasons. They had a 9 hole course, driving range, batting cages, and other amenities including the best mini-golf course around. Now it's a condo development in an already over-crowded are where traffic was already awful.

[mcanadiens]

38 minutes ago, billchao said:

From what the other posters are saying, the place isn't insolvent. Their lease is coming to an end and the company that owns it put it up for sale. One of the bidders for the property is a real estate developer that wants to turn it into a housing development. If anything it seems to be a very popular place for golf and the golf community has little say about what will happen to it.

Here's a recent article I found about it.

Yeah. Same story with our local place. ... Near as I know the course and range did ok and made money. The same fellow leased the land and operated it for years. The land the course was sitting on is just too valuable for the owners to let the arrangement continue.

[Tim Williamson]

Update: 

“The property was listed for sale this summer at $4.77 million. Lotz has offered to buy the property in the past and submitted a bid to buy the course, but was outbid by McBride Berra.

Since news broke last week of the golf course’s possible fate, he told the Call he has had several investors approach him offering to help match McBride Berra’s offer.”

It is a driving range, practice putting, Batting cages, Miniature golf and 18 hole par 3, not a golf course. I will see Steve today and see what the latest is. I can relate to what you've said, billchao, about taking an already population dense area and putting more houses on it.

[David in FL]

2 hours ago, billchao said:

From what the other posters are saying, the place isn't insolvent. Their lease is coming to an end and the company that owns it put it up for sale. One of the bidders for the property is a real estate developer that wants to turn it into a housing development. If anything it seems to be a very popular place for golf and the golf community has little say about what will happen to it.

Here's a recent article I found about it.

Thanks.  You're right, and that does put it in a different light.

I hope they're able to keep it open.

[Jeff Coleman]

There's a chance to prevent Tower Tee from being bulldozed.

 

Edited November 3, 2017 by RandallT
Embedded video. Made a bit less self promotion

[Tim Williamson]

https://callnewspapers.com/breaking-tower-tee-subdivision-proposal-hearing-postponed/

Update: The Planning Commission Hearing for Nov 13 has been postponed. "The housing developer seeking to redevelop the Tower Tee golf course and driving range in Affton has asked to postpone its request, and a public hearing will not be held on the development next week as previously announced."

[Tim Williamson]

This is not good: "Property owner says Tower Tee's lease is being terminated in two months." They probably postponed the zoning hearing because there would have been at least a hundred or more loyal Tower Tee customers there to voice their opposition. http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/property-owner-says-tower-tee-s-lease-is-being-terminated/article_8b08f256-d445-558a-8eb4-eba66378b62e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 

[David in FL]

Crap.  I'm sorry to hear that.

[Tim Williamson]

6 hours ago, David in FL said:

Crap.  I'm sorry to hear that.

All may not be lost just yet. I just took a lesson at Tower Tee with Bob Gaus. He pointed out that It's going to be difficult for McBride to sell $300,000 homes when there is an industrial plant across the street that sometimes emits noxious odors. McBride can't build many homes unless it is able to secure the wooded acreage that adjoins Tower Tee. That land is owned by the Archdiocese of St. Louis. We may have another year until we know what's going to happen. Things are not moving very fast.

[RandallT]

Three cheers for industrial plants that emit noxious odors!

24 minutes ago, Tim Williamson said:

All may not be lost just yet. I just took a lesson at Tower Tee with Bob Gaus. He pointed out that It's going to be difficult for McBride to sell $300,000 homes when there is an industrial plant across the street that sometimes emits noxious odors. McBride can't build many homes unless it is able to secure the wooded acreage that adjoins Tower Tee. That land is owned by the Archdiocese of St. Louis. We may have another year until we know what's going to happen. Things are not moving very fast.