COURSE CORRECTION: The pandemic prompts a change in plans for a Haywood County golf development.

• Author: Solender, Michael J.
• Position: NCTREND: Real estate

North Carolina's Haywood County holds a special allure for fuel supplier Lex West, who has enjoyed visits to the mountainous region throughout his life. In 2018, the co-owner of Hartsville, South Carolina-based West Oil bought Springdale, a golf resort 20 miles west of Asheville where he and his father have played since the mid-1990s.

The golf course was started and owned for decades by New Yorkers Fred and Eunice Tingle. They bought 550 acres, used for many years as a girls camp, at a courthouse auction in the late 1960s. The couple built 18 holes in the valley below Cold Mountain, a place made famous by Charles Frazier's novel and a film starring Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.

West's initial goals for Springdale were to "polish the gem of a property in decline" and offer locals and vacationers a great golf and mountain experience like he had enjoyed over the years.

Many years earlier, West's parents had bought about 200 acres atop Dream Mountain, about a mile away and just over the ridgeline from Springdale.

"Throughout the years, my dad and I would come down to Springdale, play golf and be joined after our round by my mom and sister for a casual dinner at the tavern here," West says. "We'd enjoy the porch, the view, and the sound of the crickets and just relax in the quiet. There's such an emotional feeling [of contentment] in the mountains. My plan for Springdale was to make that experience available for others to enjoy."

But West couldn't have foreseen the COVID-19 pandemic and a catastrophic flood that would prompt a recharting of his passion project.

West spent about $2 million buying the property and adjacent land, giving the family a combined 1,000 acres or so. He has invested more than $15 million in the golf course renovation, upgrades to the 19 residences that each accommodate four people and construction of Springdale Village. It includes the Village Grill restaurant, Rocky Face Tavern, a fitness center, pool and indoor-outdoor event space.

"The first pivot came just as we began to enter into COVID in late 2019," recalls West. "I came to understand it was going to take more than a renovated golf course to make the property economically viable and sustainable."

Reimagined resort

The original plan for a new Springdale called for "an old-school style design with a pro shop, clubhouse and banquet rooms--all under one roof," West says. "As COVID evolved, we were uncomfortable with that approach and shortly before breaking ground, we...