The Town & Country Club rejected St. Thomas’ $61.4 million offer Tuesday to purchase the club’s golf course, which would have added 94 acres to the university’s campus and provided land for new athletic facilities.
Town & Country’s board of directors reviewed the unsolicited offer but elected to reject it. The club stated that they “have no further interest in any further engagement on this topic. Town & Country Club is not for sale.”
“We’re going to abide by their wishes. We don’t have any reason to do anything more at this point and will continue to pursue other options,” Mark Vangsgard, St. Thomas’ vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer, said.
Vangsgard said the university wanted to gauge the interest of Town & Country with the offer.
“Sometimes you never know what the answer is going to be unless you ask the question,” Vangsgard said.
The university had hoped Minnesota’s oldest golf course would serve as the new home for a St. Thomas hockey rink, baseball and softball fields but doesn’t want to limit a future land purchase to just athletics.
“We also will continue to look for flexibility for our current campus that would allow for future development in support of our academic mission as well,” Athletic Director Phil Esten said in a statement on OneStThomas.
One of the other options Vangsgard highlighted was the Highland Bridge site at the old Ford Motor Co. plant. Advantages of the area include its proximity to campus, its city centrality and the opportunity to partner with Ryan Cos. on the construction. Vangsgard said there is a long way to go on that site.
“This is all about exploring options and trying to find the best answer — the right answer — in an environment where we’re not sure what that is and that’s why we look at options,” Vangsgard said.
Despite pursuing the Highland Bridge area, Vangsgard said St. Thomas will continue to search for other possible sites in the future.
“We want to be thoughtful, we want to be analytic, we want to be objective and we want to make sure that we have a robust set of options that we’ve looked at and decided on,” Vangsgard said.
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.
Scout Mason can be reached at maso7275@stthomas.edu.