As I was cleaning out old links and documents, I came across the ones for the Lakes Club. It was really following the lawsuit between Rosskamp and HTA, but that is not important for this discussion. There is 13,700+ square feet for lease at the Lakes Club, 10484 W Thunderbird. There is a total of 32000 square feet in the building, 2/3's of which is leased to Grand Canyon University Nursing School. The unfinished area not occupied by the GCU would make a great adult education area, community area or even some transitional space when needed. What makes the space the most amazing is the lake access from the patios. The views are amazing and can just imagine an art show on the patio or music by the lake. The GCU Nursing School offers classes in the building, but they are small and highly specialized, such a Master's level Autism teaching skills. The reason I mention this is the reason no one else has leased space at this location - Parking. Apparently HTA only offers 5 spaces for the building. If the RCSC could get into the building, and be established once the lease came up for renewal, there could be a chance at getting more room for the RCSC. As the old saying goes, you can eat an elephant, just one bite at a time. Now the questions: Can the parking be renegotiated? Does the west side of the bowling alley parking get really full for long periods of time? Could a shuttle/golf cart service be instituted to cart folks back and forth? Are there other parking options in the buildings behind the proposed car club? Do we dare not take a chance and see if we can't occupy this space with an eye to the future for expansion? How do we get this idea beyond the board room for further investigation into possible solutions and occupancy? How much square footage is at Sundial? Does this amount of space rival any other RCSC locations for a comparison of size? How do we get anyone to call HTA, Bettina Hunt @ (480) 998-3478 to garner more information and discuss options. This is still a great property worth exploring, just take it in bits and pieces as the RCSC can get it. How could this idea make it to the LRP and not end up DOA at the GM's desk? I know there is a way to make this work, I just need others to make it a reality. Bill, you have done amazing work with magazines and graphics even creating a beautiful magazine to hand out at the annual meeting. Could the Lakes Club become a glossy presentation to the board and the LRP for serious consideration? Thanks all for listening and I appreciate any and all feedback. This location has been a dream for 8 years now. The fact it is still available makes me believe it is attainable and it just waiting for the right opportunity and offer.
Looks like I'm in a contrary mood today. The Lakes Club would be/could have been a good idea if it was an outright purchase at some point. Taking out a lease of this size would be dangerous and subject to the whims of the lessor. We should wait for a buy opportunity. There should be a Long Range Planning Committee focus on Lakeview Center coming up soon as I believe it was to follow Mountain View's re-do. There will be a big battle over keeping the big "O" shaped center as being historical or unique or a complete re-build of the center to best utilize space. There's so much lakefront, property & parking that the possibilities are endless. The SC Car Club should have vacated the building to the north of the bowling lanes so that property can also be in the future plans.
Unfortunately, there will not be a voluntary offer to sell, the structure of the HTA, Healthcare Trust Authority, is to keep the land in trust and lease the buildings out. When the option of leasing the entire center was on the table, it was believed it could prove useful to put in a bid on the "dirt" if the RCSC owned the building. Kind of gave us leverage as to being a purchaser/owner of the building. It would, again, take some strategic plan to get into the building, make it ours, then come up with an offer to purchase the land from HTA (Sun Health Trust). I truly believe if we can get our feet on the property, and continue to keep a presence, even after GCU leaves, the RCSC can make great strides in gaining the entire property as well as make a deal for the dirt under the building.
Damn you Carole (just kidding), this is the one topic that sends my head spinning. Carole was on the board with me back then when we toured the building and were pushing to make it happen. We knew it was a "land lease", but the building was an important part of our history and the only building the company didn't give us. As you can see from the pictures above, it is a spectacular piece of property. Meeker used it to sell more than 2000 homes per years from 71 through 78 (build-out). Every potential buyer needing a gentle push was wined and dined there. The funny thing was when we suggested we aggressively try and buy it, we had board members ask why? I kid you not. There was virtually no vision other than to shovel millions into golf, funny how the blinders came off for those expenditures. And to insure that happen, they insisted we get rid of the long range planning committee. And to further craze me, the board president once proudly proclaimed we didn't need a LRPC, because they had the board to do that (arrogance at it's finest). I've said this so many times i want to vomit, we really needed a comprehensive long range strategic plan. If you want to see disjointed, you only have to look at our current long range budget. Included in 2023 is a 5 million dollar expenditure for building a new admin building where the old storage space was. That again came from a board president who thought it was a great idea. Then there is the 8 million dollar rebuild on Lakeview and the god knows how much we will spend at Mountainview (i suspect 10 million will be light) and of course by the time the property on Grand Ave is done it will be 8 to 10 million dollars. Had we been willing to adjust the golf budget and push back a couple of the courses we could have at least considered buying the 38,000 sq feet on the lake and having a theater, expanded club space at both Lakeview center and massive club space at the new Meeker community center and all of the administrative offices housed there. And that is to say nothing about how spectacular those grounds could have been developed in conjunction with "Meeker Mountain." And for the record, it could have been done for a fraction of the monies we are spending on the piecemeal plan we are currently working under. One last thought to chew on: If the RCSC had been under Title 33, these discussions would have been held in the open and put in front of the residents. Instead we were told "don't tell anyone," the things discussed in the work sessions are confidential. And the people wonder why some of us sound bitter.
