Kokopelli Sale Will Go Through
MARION - U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, announced Friday in Marion City Hall that the U.S. Treasury Department has allowed the sale of Kokopelli golf course to proceed.
The sale of the 18-hole, Steve Smyers-designed golf course that sits on 176 acres in north Marion includes a golf club and restaurant. It has also spurred construction of an upwardly scaled housing development.
A negotiated sale from the property's current owner Kokopelli Master Partners of Gainesville, Fla., to Herrin-based Green Grass Group had been blocked more than a year by federal officials because of concerns over suspected ties between a KMP partner, John Bredenkamp, and African dictator Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Costello told an audience gathered in city hall chambers that he received a call Thursday from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control Director Adam Szubin telling the Illinois congressman that "the sale can go through."
"The restaurant and golf course will remain open. This is a successful solution to a complicated matter," Costello said, noting a separate account will be established between the partnerships involved and the bank financing it.
Marion Mayor Bob Butler commended the efforts of Costello and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, for their work with Treasury officials to get clearance on title closure, which is expected to be complete by month's end.
While progress did move along about as efficiently as "molasses in January," Butler said Costello's office distinguished itself.
The golf course employs from 75 to 100 people, most of who had been let go as the course operated threadbare the last few months, said Jesse Barge, Kokopelli's director of golf and operations.
"We got to the point I was the only person there. This delay cost us some money. Our membership was down last year because of uncertainty over ownership," Barge said.
Barge said the golf course, opened in 1997, has been a key contributor to Marion's economy with its tournaments bringing people from out-of-town to play.
In 2009, there were 1,200 to 1,500 hotel/motel rooms leased for at least a night directly attributable to Kokopelli. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay 11-member golf team arrived recently to escape snow conditions in the north so they could practice. They will be here for five days, Barge said as an example of the out-of-town commerce that Kokopelli lures.
Green Grass officers David Hays and Michael Koller said in a prepared statement that improvements are planned for the golf course, club house and restaurant.