New owners announce Henderson’s Legacy Golf Club will reopen

Soon after a judge on Tuesday morning appointed a receiver to oversee Henderson’s shuttered Legacy Golf Course, the property’s new owners had an announcement of their own:

Georges Maalouf and Eddie Haddad, Legacy’s co-owners, said they expect to open the golf course in the next few weeks and intend to keep it a golf course “forever and ever.”

Maalouf said the decision will help manage financial losses on the course. He also hopes it shows that the owners’ intent is to be “responsible managers of the course.”

“If the community wants a golf course, we want to work with them to figure out how to re-establish the course while being environmentally responsible,” Maalouf said. “We want to meet with the homeowners to discuss how we can ensure that the open space is to their benefit beyond the 21 years.”

Property documents recorded with Clark County on Dec. 26, 1988, states that for 50 years the course can only be developed or improved as a golf course.

“We just want it to be financially feasible and have excellent playing conditions,” Haddad said.

OB Sports named receiver

Judge Joe Hardy Jr. appointed Arizona-based OB Sports to oversee the temporary restraining order granted this month to maintain Legacy as a golf course. The decision came after a group of homeowners sued the new owners based on the deed restriction.

OB Sports managed Legacy for 26 years before the new owners shut it down in July.

Erika Pike Turner, who represents the 350-home Grand Legacy Association, said she was pleased with the decision.

“The homeowners can finally get a green course out there, which is what they paid for in the first place,” Turner said.

Michael Kostrinsky, attorney for Par Excellence Drive Trust LLC, which bought the golf course for $1.5 million, disclosed that the owners hired Elite Golf Management this week to maintain the course.

Hardy appointed OB Sports as the neutral company to oversee management of the course at a rate of $150 an hour or less. The cost will be paid by Par Excellence but is subject to reimbursement by the plaintiffs, depending on the outcome of the litigation.

About 70 residents showed up to the hearing, some wearing green shirts that said “Save The Legacy Golf Course.”

“I thought the judge’s decision was fair, and he did an excellent job of keeping on point,” said Elizabeth Stearns, who lives by Legacy. “It shows how important it is for us to stand together as a community.”

Master Series, a subdivision of the Green Valley Village Master Association, also retained a lawyer earlier this month. Attorney Ken Hogan, from the law firm Hogan Hulet, represented the 330-home subdivision with a goal to uphold the deed restriction.

“The bottom line in this litigation is that the water is green and the grass is not,” Hogan said.

A hearing on a motion to dismiss the homeowners’ complaint is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 10. Depending on the hearing’s outcome, a trial may be set for November.

Contact Sandy Lopez at slopez@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4686. Follow @JournalismSandy on Twitter.