Manchester Financial Group Inc., headed by real estate mogul Doug Manchester, plans to build the Grand Del Mar, which could be the last luxury resort built near the county’s coastline.
The posh $150 million, 260-room hotel is scheduled to break ground adjacent to the Grand Del Mar Golf Club , formerly known as the Del Mar National Golf Club , on June 20. It is scheduled to open in December 2006.
Manchester said he is building a five-star quality property with a combination resort and golf course that will be “second to none” in the county.
It is on Grand Del Mar Way in San Diego, a half-mile south of state Route 56 off Carmel Country Road and 20 miles north of Downtown.
Hotel consultant Bob Rauch, the director of the Center for Hospitality and Tourism Research at San Diego State University, agrees that the Grand Del Mar “is the last resort to be built near the coast.”
Rauch expects the trend for future development of major commercial projects will be to build east of Interstate 15.
Construction to expand the clubhouse at the Grand Del Mar from 14,000 square feet to nearly 45,000 square feet, at a projected cost of $20 million, began last week.
Manchester Financial purchased the 300-acre tract, which includes the 18-hole golf course in January 2003 for $35 million.
Perry Dealy, the executive vice president of Manchester Financial, said the construction tab for the entire project, including $90 million for a 40-unit “fractional-ownership” townhome complex next to the hotel, is expected to be $260 million. A fractional ownership, he said, means buyers own a deeded share of the residential properties.
The hotel and townhome complex will built on a 24-acre stretch of land, which Dealy said is situated “like an island surrounded by the golf course.”
Starting rates for the hotel’s 610-square-foot guest rooms will be set at $360 a night. A one-seventh deeded share in the 3,700-square-foot townhomes will be priced at $500,000. Construction on the townhomes should start in June, with the opening in late 2006.
The golf course will be semiprivate open to hotel guests and townhome owners. However, plans also include offering 100 golf club memberships for $100,000, Dealy added.
Manchester’s new project is in the right place at the right time, said Rick MacDonald, the president and chief executive officer of San Diego Golf Reservations, which manages convention and corporate golf events and books golf rounds online.
“The (Grand Del Mar Golf Club) is probably the only upscale golf course that is close to Downtown,” MacDonald said.
As a golf resort, he said it would rival the Four Seasons Resort Aviara and the La Costa Resort and Spa, both in Carlsbad, as well as the Rancho Bernardo Inn.
Recreational golf bogied in the wake of the economic downturn that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, MacDonald said.
It was generally assumed at that time that golf courses were overbuilt, not only in San Diego, but across the country.
However, the demand for playing golf rebounded last year, he added.
“The situation was a combination of overbuilding and the economy,” MacDonald said. “But there has been a resurgence in demand and things appear to be coming back, primarily because of the economy.
“Our business was up about 20-25 percent last year, and the number of rounds we booked in 2004 was up from the year before.”
MacDonald also said the course owners and operators he communicates with say the same thing , they’re out of the rough.
Rauch said some of the credit for renewed interest in golf goes to professional golfer Tiger Woods. Yet he said demand for amateur play “tends to go up and down,” reflecting the nation’s economy.
Nevertheless, MacDonald said San Diego “is considered one of the country’s premier golf destinations because of the quality, the number of golf courses and the variety of courses.”
“San Diego has golf courses with ocean views, courses in canyons and courses of all different types and styles,” he said.
As a vacation spot that caters to golfers, Mac Donald said San Diego is in league with Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Scottsdale, Ariz., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and cities in Florida.