A 25-month lease for the Veterans Memorial Golf Course has been awarded to W3 Entertainment LLC, which has proposed big plans to incorporate major music events at the site while promising to maintain the 18-hole golf course.
The Walla Walla City Council approved granting the lease to W3 Entertainment in a Wednesday, Sept. 8, council meeting. The vote was 5-2, with council members Myron Huie and Susan Nakonieczny voting against the lease.
The vote came amid a flurry of controversy and heated passions about the fate of the golf course, with public comments running more than 30 minutes. Many who spoke feared that the golf course would not be properly maintained or that it would be downsized from an 18-hole course to a 9-hole course.
Founded in 1948, the golf course is located at 201 E. Rees Ave., and is part of Veterans Memorial Park in Walla Walla.
Seemingly in a bid to reassure golf enthusiasts concerned about the future of the course under W3’s leadership, the City Council preempted approval of the lease with a previously unannounced resolution.
That resolution declared the city’s commitment to retain the golf course in its current state and affirmed its desire to see “play increase,” which passed unanimously.
The current lease holders, management company Early-Repass Golf LLC, which oversaw revitalization efforts on the golf course in recent years, requested earlier this year to end its lease early. While their lease was originally set to expire at the end of 2023, the city agreed to let them terminate the lease at the end of November 2021.
On March 22, the city issued a request for proposals, asking for eligible companies to submit a proposal on how they would manage the course and what their company would bring to the table. The winning proposal would be granted the final 25 months of Easy-Repass’ lease.
Only three proposals were received by the May 12 deadline. A committee of staff and community members vetted the three proposals, and favored one submitted by golf course management company CourseCo, based in Petaluma, California.
However, CourseCo’s proposal was not to lease the course, but instead for the city to contract with them, paying CourseCo to manage the operation while the city was left with the financial risk associated with operational costs.
The city determined that, despite the committee’s recommendation, CourseCo’s proposal did not satisfy the city’s needs.
Another committee was formed to interview two other organizations, W3 Entertainment LLC and GolfLinks.
GolfLinks has run a small number of municipal golf courses and offered a more traditional arrangement. W3 Entertainment made a different proposal.
W3 Entertainment proposed that it would maintain the golf course and invest in youth programming to attract the next generation of golfers. It would also seek to use the greens to host music performances.
W3 Entertainment is now the leaseholder of the driving range at the Veterans Memorial Golf Club, and had previously been in talks with Early-Repass to hold concerts and other events at the golf course.
Early-Repass’ decision to end its lease early presented an opportunity, wrote Scott Daggatt, of W3 Entertainment, for the entertainment company to manage the entire course and more efficiently coordinate events.
In a presentation to the City Council, City Manager Nabiel Shawa estimated that the addition of a concert series at the course would bring around $160,000 in additional revenue per year, assuming that tickets cost an average of $80, with around 4,000-5,000 tickets sold per show. The city would receive 5% of ticket sales into the general fund, Shawa said.
The music venue would attract top name artists on their way to or from larger cities like Seattle, Spokane or Boise, according to W3 Entertainment’s proposal.
Some members of the committee to vet the proposals are skeptical of that claim.
In an email to Parks and Recreation Director Andy Coleman, committee member Jay Babbitt claimed the owners of W3 were “a couple of frauds.”
“They’re talking Big Flashing Lights and Hotels and Stages and Coachella and one-time-I-was-a-visiting-professor-at-NYU and crossing their fingers behind their backs saying they can run a golf course?!” Babbitt wrote.
Babbitt argued that W3 Entertainment did not have the expertise needed to manage the golf course, and that the city’s asset and golfing community would suffer as a result.
In response, W3 Entertainment’s Daggatt wrote that managing the golf course would remain in the hands of longtime Golf Course Superintendent Merle Pearce, who will be joined by Walla Walla High School and Whitman golf program coach Bill Howard as general manager of the Golf Club Pro Shop and course operations.
“Ken’s and my roles will be to support both Bill’s and Merle’s operations,” Daggatt wrote. “Additionally, we will expend efforts in marketing and promoting the golf course to bring in more memberships and increase the total rounds of golf play.”
During the Sept. 8 meeting, Mayor Tom Scribner noted that the city would be monitoring operations at the golf course. He emphasized that the current lease agreement would only last two years, and that W3 Entertainment would have to prove itself during that time.
Responding to Babbitt’s email prior to the meeting, Scribner wrote that he would be attentive to complaints should they arise, but was hopeful that the golf course would be improved by W3 Entertainment.
“I, for one member of council, think that Veterans Memorial Golf Course adds much to our community and want it to continue be and serve as such,” Scribner wrote. “Leasing it to W3, if that is what council decides to do, will not, I do not believe, defeat that mission.”
