For the second time in three years, the Ahwatukee Golf Club has been sold – this time to a somewhat unlikely buyer.
ViaWest Group – a Phoenix-based real estate investment and management group that boasts over $3.6 billion in 83 industrial and commercial projects throughout the West – bought the 141-acre course on 48th Street just north of Warner Road for $5.3 million, according to commercial real estate tracker vizzda.com.
Seller Charles Gibson and his wife, operating as Free Drop LLC and who own a course in Avondale, had purchased the 18-hole championship course in 2023 for $3.2 million from Wilson Gee.
Designed by Arizona golf legend John Bulla and opened in 1976, the course includes an 11,868-square-foot clubhouse.
Over the last three years, the Gibsons’ son Cole Gibson and his Gibson Golf Management company led a major rejuvenation of the facility with high-quality amenities, stylish merchandise, and affordable top-tier golf.
The Gibsons’ journey in that restoration included a sizeable investment into capital projects throughout the facility.
Cole Gibson said that within the past two years, over $1 million was invested in underground irrigation and other ways to improve the grounds.
Now bearing a rabbit with sunglasses on as its logo and a teal color scheme, the pro shop took on a new form. It was moved adjacent to the bar and restaurant to create a more connected feel when a guest walks through the door.
“We tried to create a one-stop shop where someone could come in and see the whole grounds as a whole,” Cole Gibson last year told phoenix.org, a sister publication of the Ahwatukee Foothills News.
“So having the pro shop, restaurant and driving range area all together just creates some fun culture…but also works ergonomically for the business,” he said.
He also completed a $500,000 project to introduce several top-of-the-line golf simulator bays where guests could access high-quality best technology at an affordable price, along with state-of-the-art teaching tools to further enhance their game.
“Indoor golf is something new for us, but we didn’t reserve any expense,” Gibson said. “We built a truly state-of-the-art facility with the best equipment, the best layout, the best turf — everything that indoor golf could be. We took it as high as we could take it. We’re really excited to see that business take off in the summer.”
What precipitated the Gibsons’ decision to sell is unclear.
But ViaWest clearly sees major potential in the first golf course it has ever owned.
“We feel like that Ahwatukee community really has an appetite for some additional entertainment options, said Alex Hondros, ViaWest senior vice president for acquisitions.
“We think serving the Ahwatukee community is really important, but it sits 15, 20 minutes from a lot of other parts of the Valley as well, and so we think there’s an opportunity to draw people here with easy access off the Interstate.
“We’re excited to get going,” Hondros continued, adding that while the company’s full plans for the course are still being made, “we’ll be activating the driving range a little bit more, putting some covers on it, bringing in technology, and then I think the course needed some upgraded product and better care practices that we look to start instituting immediately.”
If the company’s name sounds familiar to Ahwatukee residents, there’s a reason for that.
In 2021, it reached a 77-year lease – which has since been extended – of a 28.6 tract of land Kyrene School District owns on South 50th Street between Ray Road and Chandler Boulevard.
ViaWest built three industrial warehouses totaling over 500,000 square feet of space and named it the complex the Converge Logistics Center.
That lease will pour over $100 million into Kyrene’s coffers over the next eight decades.
Hondros said, “We’re already trying to hit the ground running” at the Ahwatukee Golf Club.
“This is much more than a golf course investment,” he said. “It’s an investment in the community. We see tremendous opportunities to create a destination where golfers, families, businesses, and neighbors can gather, connect, and enjoy a modern golf experience.”
The developer has hired Paradigm Golf, which revitalized the Dobson Ranch Golf Course in Mesa.
Although Paradigm did not return a call for comment, a company official told azbigmedia.com last week that it shares ViaWest’s vision for the Ahwatukee Golf Club.
That vision “immediately resonated with us preserving a beloved community course while reimagining what it can be for families, juniors, and golfers of every level, “said Matt Stark, Paradigm president of partnerships was quoted as saying.
“That alignment made this partnership feel natural from day one, and together we’re committed to making Ahwatukee a place where golf is fun, welcoming, and truly belongs to the community.”
Hondros said that while there likely will be some changes at the clubhouse restaurant, they likely would not involve a complete makeover.
But he said that for the entire facility, “we’ve got a lot of plans.
Stressing “we don’t have anything we can share publicly,” however, Hondros indicated the clubhouse itself will get some upgrades.
“We are currently working on some clubhouse designs,” he said. “As you know, there’s six indoor simulator bays. I think we’re looking to improve the marketability and availability of those as well as the customer experience.”
He said the clubhouse renovation likely would come in two phases while also addressing improvements on the course.
“It won’t happen overnight,” he said of the overall plan for the Ahwatukee Golf Club. “It will take a couple years to get everything fully to where we want it to be. But we’re already trying to hit the ground running.”