Kuressaare Writes Off €1.4 Million in Golf Course Sale
Kuressaare's city council has written off 1.4 million euros in losses after unloading the bankrupt Saaremaa Golf AS project this spring.
The size of the loss on the city's once-touted project was first reported Saarlane on Thursday.
“In bookkeeping terms, the city made a 1.379 million euro loss on the venture,” Kuressaare City Council financial adviser Mai Takkis told an audit committee.
The course, which opened in July 2008, took six years and 50 million kroons (3.2 million euros) to build. The city covered around half the construction costs. However, when profits failed to materialize, it began efforts to find new owners.
Kuressaare city first tried to offload the venture in 2009, for three million euros, and again in 2011 and twice in 2013. The first three attempts failed to attract any bids.
When the minimum asking price was lowered to 775,000 euros at the end of April, entrepreneur Peter Hunt, who is also planning a golf course near Pärnu, purchased the bankrupt company.
Around 7,000 rounds of golf were played at the course last year, roughly half by foreigners.