A 131-acre golf course in North Saanich, along with its clubhouse, curling rink, tennis courts and parking lot, is on the block for nearly $7 million.
The family-owned Glen Meadows Golf and Country Club was listed Wednesday after 55 years of operation. The asking prices are $5.89 million for the 129-acre course and $888,000 for the 2.34-acre parking lot. Included with the golf course is a 12,500-square-foot clubhouse, three tennis courts and a six-sheet curling rink.
The land was initially a farm purchased in 1961 by Percy Criddle and his wife, Rae, after the couple sold their beef operation in Manitoba. But the Criddles never farmed the North Saanich land and immediately began conversion to golf. “[Percy] had a dream, bought a bulldozer and went to work,” said son Perry Criddle, 64. “Here we are now 55 years later.”
Criddle said his father still shows up for work every day at the golf course at the age of 92.
He said the golf course was always run as a family business. He and his younger siblings, three bothers and two sisters, have always worked there.
“We all finished school and went to work on the course and all six of us have pretty well spent out whole lives there,” said Criddle.
He said the decision to sell was a tough one, but it was agreed it was “time to move on.”
Criddle said the golf business has declined in recent years. But that has little to do with the reason for selling. The land is zoned as agricultural/commercial and is within the agricultural land reserve. (Golf courses are permitted use within the ALR.)
Criddle and real estate advisers handling the sale said the municipality of North Saanich and the B.C. Land Commission will both make it tough for anyone who wants to change the use of the land.
Also, the Criddle family has tried twice, unsuccessfully, with two separate North Saanich councils to gain approval for alternative uses for the land.
In the most recent attempt, proposed last year, the family asked to develop 35 large-lot, rural-style homes on 30 acres. The remaining 100 acres would be donated to the municipality possibly for transformation back into a farm. But in July, North Saanich councillors, concerned about added density, unanimously rejected the idea.
Randy Holt, vice-president of Devencore Realty Victoria Ltd., said he was reluctant to speculate on who might now be interested in buying the golf course, although he has already had inquiries.
Holt said the price of the land is well within existing prices for farmland on Vancouver Island. Also, it compares especially well to residential land in places such as Vancouver and even Victoria.
He said a buyer might be anyone. It could be an Asian investor interested in land, a farmer who wants to take it back to agriculture or even someone who just wants a golf course.
