South Bend Country Club has new owners
SOUTH BEND — Gary “Duke” Downey is certain that South Bend Country Club would have ceased operations temporarily, if not forever, if a group of member investors had not purchased the 94-year-old club this fall.
Downey is president of SBCC Partners, LLC, the company that will infuse more than $2 million into the club, which entered foreclosure in January.
The company comprises eight primary investors and 21 additional investors who own fractional shares in the club.
Money has already been used to make a number of repairs, including improvements to the underground drainage system. And a new membership director starts work Monday.
“Quite honestly, nobody investing in this really expects to get a return on their investment for years and years and years,” said Downey, the former owner Towne Air Freight and a current investor in the South Bend Silver Hawks.
“It’s the kind of thing you do because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “But it’s turnaround is not going to happen overnight.”
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