The International Golf Club in Bolton, Massachusetts, will be sold to Escalante Golf of Fort Worth, Texas, for $10 million if the club’s many creditors vote to approve a liquidation plan.
According to a disclosure statement that was mailed to creditors, the creditors have until Dec. 4 to approve the liquidating plan for Arklow Limited Partnership, the International Golf Club and Wealyn. A bankruptcy court hearing on confirmation of the plan is scheduled for Dec. 10.
Creditors include those who paid for memberships and others who paid for weddings at the club, which did not open this year and filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts Central Division in Worcester in May.
According to the disclosure statement, the liquidation plan will use the proceeds of the sale, collection and other liquidation of the club’s assets to fund payments to the creditors in the order of priority established under the bankruptcy code and applicable non-bankruptcy law. The primary source of the funds will be the $10 million from the sale of the club to Escalante Golf, a private equity firm which owns 17 golf courses in the U.S.
Confirmation of the liquidating plan is a condition to the closing of the sale of the club to Escalante Golf, according to the disclosure statement.
Andrew Ravesi and Nisha Patel paid a deposit of $10,000 to hold their wedding ceremony and reception at the International on May 30. They were told they would get a refund, but they never did.
“I’m not entirely sure what to think at this point,” Ravesi said Tuesday. “As I said, I’m still trying to make sense of this. My wife Nisha and I had already resigned ourselves to thinking we wouldn’t be getting anything back from our wedding deposit. Getting anything back would be a surprise, but it’s still a sore spot for us. We’re just looking forward to putting this all behind us, as I’m sure anyone else affected by this is.”
They ended up getting married on May 30, but at Barrett Park in Leominster, Massachusetts, with only immediate family in attendance. After the pandemic ends, they play to hold a larger ceremony that everyone can attend.
Arklow Limited Partnership owns about 665 acres of real estate, including 200 taken up by the International’s two golf courses, 54-room hotel, restaurant and function room. Arklow also owns equipment necessary to operate the International, and leases the rest, such as golf carts, mowers and turf equipment. Arklow’s limited partners are Florence Weadock, Brian Lynch, Daniel Weadock, Ann Specht and Kevin Weadock.
On March 18, the club closed and laid off the majority of its staff, a day after the state ruled all restaurants must close other than takeout service due to the coronavirus. Owners Kevin Weadock and Ann Specht informed managers that the coronavirus had worsened the private club’s financial outlook and that the club would not reopen, not even after the virus threat ended, according to multiple people at the March 18 meeting. Members were told only that the majority of the staff was let go.
Members heard nothing from the club until a week later when Kevin Weadock emailed them to say the club would reopen when Gov. Charlie Baker allowed golf courses to do so. People who had booked weddings at the International weren’t told anything. Golf courses were allowed to reopen in mid-May, but the International had filed for bankruptcy by then.
Nine days after the club closed, Bryan Weadock said he had taken over control of the club in place of his brother Kevin. That day, Bryan Weadock disputed rumors that the family was considering bankruptcy, insisted the family has the finances to continue to run the club, and said that it was not for sale.
Bryan Weadock also promised full refunds to anyone who had booked a wedding, but most couples received nothing. Many couples lost several thousand dollars.
The Weadock family also owns Twin Springs Golf Course, a nearby nine-hole public course which has been closed since the International declared bankruptcy.