Island Green Golf Club sells

Two real estate industry colleagues and friends are scheduled to close today on the purchase of Island Green Golf Club Inc. in Republic.

The buyers are Jake Crutcher, the owner of Crutcher Custom Homes LLC, and Todd Reed, who owns appraisal company Total Home Analysis. Crutcher declined to disclose the purchase price for the 18-hole, 7,000-yard course that includes a clubhouse and pool at 169 Country Club Drive.

Dale Boatright, who died in 2014, developed the roughly $6 million course designed by golf course architect Jerry Slack. He left it to his wife Jane and his daughter Beverly, who agreed to sell the property to Crutcher and Reed.

“It’s a beautiful course. It’s got a good rolling layout,” Crutcher said, noting, however, it hasn’t recently had “any money put into it and it shows.”

The business partners plan to invest $500,000 over a two-year period upgrading the clubhouse, remodeling the event center, touching up the greens, adding new audio and visual, and bringing dining to members, among other initiatives.

“We’re going to try to make a push to get weddings back out there,” Crutcher added.

Crutcher and Reed are retaining Island Green’s three employees, including General Manager Regina Sarber, with plans to add three more in addition to a current slate of eight seasonal, part-time workers.

Last year, the Boatright family had an interested buyer after attempting to sell the golf course via auction, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Crutcher said he and Reed were not the interested party last year, and he believed none of the bidders met the reserve price.

Separately, Crutcher also is working today to close on the purchase of the Island Green subdivision’s 14 remaining lots for undisclosed terms from the Boatright family. Through Crutcher Custom Homes, he plans to construct build-to-suit homes starting at around $230,000.

“It’s kind of in between a spec and a custom,” said Crutcher, who’s also a resident of the Island Green subdivision. “I’ve already built a couple houses out there.”