Fed Program Aids Golf Course Developments

ATLANTA-The Palmer Course at Starr’s Mill, part of the gated Whitewater Creek community near Fayetteville in Fayette County, is up and running, thanks to a guaranteed $6-million acquisition loan from the US Department of Agriculture’s little-known Rural Development sector, area land brokers just becoming familiar with the program tell GlobeSt.com.

Projects in Fayette County near Atlanta and Columbia County, west of Augusta, GA, are benefiting from the program which pays the lender the loan balance if a borrower defaults on the contract. Although five years old, the program is fairly well-known for aiding residential and commercial development in rural locations throughout the US, but not well-known for its help in assisting recreational ventures, brokers say.

For example, it’s doubtful if John Boykin of Roswell, GA, could have developed his non-profit Palmer Course at Starr’s Mill in Fayette County without a guarantee from the Rural Development agency, brokers tell GlobeSt.com. Boykin borrowed $6 million from Heritage Bank to buy the 294-acre, 306-home Whitewater Creek community from Robert Brooks, chairman of locally based Hooters of America restaurant chain.