Century Golf Partners, HKI America Buy Four Seasons Las Colinas Golf & Sports Club

By Scott Kauffman

Century Golf Partners, one of the largest owner/operators of golf resorts and clubs in the world, announced Dec. 21 it partnered with HKI America to acquire the Dallas-area Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club of Las Colinas.

The acquisition of the storied Golf & Sports Club was finalized on December 15th and includes two notable courses, the Cottonwood Valley Course and the TPC of Las Colinas Course. The latter course was the host site of the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Championship for 35 years, which celebrated such champions as Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw and Payne Stewart.

Century Golf Partners was founded in 2005 for the purpose of acquiring and managing private clubs, public courses and golf resorts and is the partnership’s Managing Partner. The club will be managed under its Arnold Palmer Golf Management brand.

“The Club’s legendary history as the host site of the Byron Nelson, award-winning golf courses, state-of-the-art sports facilities, and thriving location makes this one of the premier clubs in Dallas and we are grateful for the members support to acquire the club," said Jim Hinckley, Century Golf Partners’ Founding Partner and CEO.

Century Golf owns and/or operates approximately 50 courses throughout the U.S., including other high-profile golf resort properties such as PGA WEST in California (with an affiliate of HKI America), PGA National in West Palm Beach and Walt Disney World Golf near Orlando.

HKI America and its affiliates currently own 26 golf courses along with distributorships for Baroness turf maintenance equipment and Yamaha golf carts.

The high-end Las Colinas golf layouts were designed by Jay Morrish and D. A. Weibring. Additionally, the club features a massive 176,000 square-foot sports clubhouse with indoor tennis, pool, fitness studios, jogging track, basketball and racquetball courts, fully-amenitized locker rooms, and various dining options. A recently renovated driving range and golf teaching facility, along with new pickleball courts have further enhanced the club offerings.

The adjacent Las Colinas Resort (formerly the Four Seasons Resort Dallas at Las Colinas), a 431-key luxury hotel, was recently acquired by a joint venture between Partners Group and funds managed by Trinity Fund Advisors LLC, an affiliate of Trinity Real Estate Investments. The new owners plan to undertake a multi-million-dollar capital improvement plan that will establish the resort as the premier group and leisure destination in the Dallas Metroplex.

The Four Seasons hotel was last sold in October 2018 for $235 million, equating to $545,244 per key, according to data published by CoStar.

The renovated resort will subsequently be operated by The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, and the new Sports Club ownership intends to maintain a close working relationship with the resort so that each may provide members and guests with exceptional service and facilities.

“The Sports Club is an iconic institution in the dynamic Dallas market,” stated Bill Nardiello, Chair of the Sports Club’s Board of Governors. “We are so pleased that we were able to have a hand in selecting Century Golf as our ownership and management partner for the Sports Club.”

Doug Howe, Partner and COO of Century Golf, added, “We are looking forward to working with the Sports Club’s talented team to build on the Club’s marquee reputation and delivering extraordinary experiences for our members and guests to enjoy.”

For Hinckley and Howe, the newly acquired Texas trophy property represents a homecoming of sorts considering the two longtime golf executives used to be based in Dallas more than 20 years ago when Hinckley was president of what was then Dallas-based ClubCorp.