Woodcrest Country Club's Fate Will Be Decided in Monday's Auction

After months of court proceedings and speculation over bidders, Woodcrest Country Club’s fate will be decided Monday morning.

Just over a year after the 84-year-old club declared bankruptcy to stave off a possible sheriff’s sale, Woodcrest will be auctioned off to the highest bidder in a closed-door auction at the Philadelphia offices of law firm Blank Rome, which has overseen the process via the club’s bankruptcy trustee, Bonnie Fatell.

Four registered bidders—including Camden County and an investment group led by South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross—will be in the auction, slated for 10 a.m.

There was a flurry of activity leading up to the bid qualification deadline, including the county’s official announcement of its bid, and the township made one final move ahead of the auction Friday, when the council OK’d using local open space funds to bolster Camden County’s potential bid for the bankrupt Woodcrest Country Club—a vote made necessary by a resolution passed earlier in the week, requiring council’s approval before any local money was committed.

There’s just over $967,000 available in Cherry Hill’s fund, which could be combined with the county’s open space money, as well as the possibility of Green Acres funding and other sources, county officials said previously.

But as council members reaffirmed the need to guarantee the taxpayers a seat at the table in the auction, the same Republicans who challenged them earlier in the week returned with a similar barrage of concerns, including whether the township and county could be in direct competition with bidders who might continue to run Woodcrest as a golf course, which council candidate John Galie referenced.

“Why are you then directly bidding against two potential buyers who have said they will do exactly that?” he said.

But council and Mayor Chuck Cahn balked at that notion, saying their intent is to ensure the property isn't developed, and is either run as a course or turned into open space.

“I don’t think we want to discuss our exact strategy,” Cahn said. “It’s not our intent to compete against anyone who wants to keep it as a golf course.”

Two bidders—Norcross’s group and the Union League of Philadelphia—have said they would do just that.

The Republicans also again challenged Cahn’s motives, claiming he has a conflict of interest in involving the township in the club’s auction, given the Brown family, owners of the club’s biggest creditor, Sun National Bank, donated $24,000 to his campaign in 2011.

But Cahn pointed out development at the club would be more beneficial to the bank, rather than keeping it as green space.

“If I was trying to help the Browns, I’d be advocating for a zoning change,” he said. “The fact that I am being very strong for open space or a golf course is actually hurting the Brown and hurting the bank, so there is clearly no conflict…if anything, I’m standing for the residents.”

But not everyone was a detractor; Karen Bell, who lives a solid driver’s distance from the back nine, said turning the property into a public park would help everyone in the neighborhoods surrounding the club.

“I’m happy with what you’re doing,” she told council. “It’ll be a benefit to everyone who lives there…I’m for this, and I think there are a lot of parents for this.”

For more on this story, read:

• End Comes for Woodcrest Country Club
• Possible Bidders File in Woodcrest Country Club Auction: Report
• Cherry Hill Calls for Tax Sale in Woodcrest Country Club Bankruptcy
• Woodcrest Country Club Could Go to Auction in May
• Woodcrest Country Club Goes to Auction May 20
• Woodcrest Country Club Closed-Door Auction Draws Members' Ire
• Woodcrest Bankruptcy Auction Turns Political
• Woodcrest Auction Bid Approved by Camden County Freeholders
• Norcross Announces Bid for Woodcrest Country Club