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LPC Golf Club averts closure, non-profit sale pending

Following a groundswell of grassroots support, La Porte City residents and attorneys Matt Craft and Corey Lorenzen made the announcement this past Saturday, Sept. 10 that the community had effectively saved La Porte City Golf Club from a looming closure.

In the span of less than two weeks, the semi-private 9-hole golf course located just east of town – and used by Union’s golf and cross country teams – went from being slated for closure and impending sale by its current owner Corey Schatz to having an accepted and signed offer by a new local non-profit organization spearheaded by Craft, Lorenzen, and local realtor Jan Pint.

As previously reported in last week’s edition of the North Tama Telegraph, when word began to spread that Schatz would be shuttering the course effective Sept. 10 and put up for sale without community intervention, the attorney/realtor trio got to work soliciting and securing pledges to purchase the course as a non-profit for the asking price of $400,000.

A community town hall was held on Labor Day evening in the LPC Community Center to further address saving the course – a meeting that drew a standing-room-only crowd.

All that hard work and swift diligence paid off leading to a mid-afternoon announcement on Sept. 10 on the LPC Golf Club’s Facebook page that the course had been saved.

“After many hours and even more calls put in over the last [two] weeks, the course has been purchased and will remain open,” the LPC Golf Course posting stated. “Congratulations

to everyone that has put the time in to see this through for the community. To the fantastic people of Laporte [sic], enjoy the course for many more years to come!!”

Later that evening, both Craft and Lorenzen made similar announcements on their respective personal Facebook pages.

“Corey Lorenzen and I are pleased to announce that there is an accepted and signed offer for the La Porte City Golf Club,” Craft wrote. “The buyer is a new non-profit organization. While any good attorney will tell you that it’s never over until it’s over, the only material contingency in the contract is that proof of good title be shown along with a release of existing mortgages and liens on all assets, which is common in nearly all commercial transactions and not expected to cause any problems.”

Craft went on to state that pursuant to the newly signed contract, Schatz would be obligated to continue operating the course through Sunday, October 16 after which the clubhouse will close for the season.

The real estate transaction closing on the course is set to take place at some point following October 16, Craft stated.

According to Craft’s post, 90 percent of the people he and his team spoke to about pledging did so “at or more” than was expected “given their status in life and connection to the course.”

In his own subsequent post on Facebook, Lorenzen stated that both golfers and non-golfers alike pledged money including a high school student.

“It was a community effort and all members of the community should be extremely proud,” Lorenzen wrote. “The City, the school, business owners, community members, people from La Porte who don’t live here now, but wanted to give back. It was simply amazing.”

La Porte City Golf Club is located at 9699 Bishop Road and will be open through October 16 to both the public and club members alike.

Reporting on Union’s cross country invitational which took place on Thursday, Sept. 8 at LPC Golf Club can be found on this week’s Sports page.