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What Might Happen To Château Montebello?
After reviewing the latest instalment of Beyond The Contour’s Top 100 Near Misses, the one course on that list that intrigues me the most is Château Montebello. Once considered the 6th best Stanley Thompson course and a favourite of our very own Zachary Car, how could something with such an interesting history and architectural pedigree be just shy of Top 100 status? If you take a look of its current and previous ownership, the possible reasons come into focus.
With the recent report that Château Montebello’s current owner—the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer China Evergrande—is being ordered to liquidate its global holdings after a failed effort to restructure $300 billion of debt, the topic of what might happen to the 1929 Thompson design is a question many other golf enthusiast might be asking themselves. I figured why not delve into the subject with a bit of speculation, but first a bit of the backstory.
If fully restored, the course would be Top 20 in the country and the 6th best in his [Stanley Thompson’s] portfolio
Ian Andrew
A Brief History of Château Montebello
Formerly known as the Lucerne-in-Quebec Seigniory Club (the Lucerne-in-Quebec bit was dropped early on), the course was part of a prestigious private retreat of during its first 40 years of operation. Backed by Canadian Pacific Railways (CPR) during the railway golf boom of the early 20th century, membership included many of the corporate and political elite of the era.
In 1970, CPR took control of the property and converted it into a public resort under its hotel division Canadian Pacific Hotels, giving it the name Château Montebello. After some corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions in the decades that followed, Château Montebello gained the Fairmont moniker in 2001.
Another change of ownership took place in 2006 when Oxford Properties—the property arm of the pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS)—purchased Château Montebello as part of a portfolio of properties that included perennial Top 100s Jasper Park Lodge and Banff Springs.
Once again the property exchanged hands when Evergrande acquired Château Montebello in 2014 from Oxford Properties. By my account, I can’t recall another golf course of similar historic significance being transferred across so many corporate regimes.
After decades of being managed—some might say neglected—there is a significant amount of deferred maintenance across both the golf course and log cabin accommodations. This unfortunate state of affairs by all accounts go back at least as far as 2007 based on the review of the Canadian golf author Robert Thompson.
So who might emerge to take on this yeoman’s work? Here is the list of what I consider to be the most and least likely candidates.
Cabot Collection
There is no name more widely known in the Canadian golf and leisure space than Cabot. Adding this Golden Era gem to its modern golf course portfolio would increase their diversity of offerings and serve as an entry point into both the Quebec and Ontario golf markets (remember, Montebello is a rather short drive from the nation’s capital). Cabot has shown what they are capable of in its turnaround of a tired golf asset (World Woods) into something more exciting (Cabot Citrus Farms). An aspect that makes me question whether Cabot would be the right fit is the fact Fairmont is currently in place as the operator of the facility. This arrangement would be opposite to their current Cabot strategy of providing smaller scale accommodations and augmenting it by developing real estate. Yes, Cabot is a real estate developer as well (Need to pay the bills somehow).
GolfNorth
The Canadian based GolfNorth has been active on the acquisition front over the last few years, adding a number of significant properties to its portfolio including Wolf Creek Golf Resort and assuming the operation of Highlands Links (and Uplands GC). The acquisition of Château Montebello could align with their strategy that is somewhere between acquiring and operating architecturally interesting courses with onsite accommodations and acquiring golf properties with the intent of flipping to a developer. Montebello represents what would appear to be the most expense and complex acquisition in GolfNorth’s history. Maybe a bit too expensive and complex?
Oxford Properties
Could Oxford re-acquire Château Montebello? I would say it’s unlikely. On the surface, it would be a good match alongside the other Thompson designed courses in their portfolio, however Montebello was spun off because it did not align to Oxford’s long-term strategy. I doubt much has changed since then. A decade of further rot to the historically significant log cabin does not help matters. Do I see a white elephant?
Golf Start-up / Angel Investor
What better way to make a splash into the golf market than acquiring a course with the potential to redefine Thompson’s Top 5 to be a Top 6. This property comes pre-packaged with steep history, if one can look past the enormous amount of money that will be required to restore the course and deteriorating log cabin to its former glory.
Government (Federal or Provincial)
This one is the least likely scenario for many reasons, but could be a consideration given the heritage and economic implications if the course were left for dead. The Government of New Brunswick followed a similar tact when first leasing, then acquiring Algonquin-by-the-Sea in the 1970s into the 1980s. Unfortunately this was a money losing proposition for many years before ownership was transferred to the private sector. This was likely for the best considering the improved direction the course is currently headed in.
Are there any other groups out there that you might consider a leading candidate to acquire this golden era gem? Perhaps a read through of the course as described by Stanley Thompson in the March 1930 issue of Canadian Golfer will help to garner some interest.
