Cleveland, Ohio: Golf course owner near Cuyahoga County Airport (KCGF) is looking for 'mercy' from officials on lease dispute

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Gary LaConte says he just wants some “mercy” from Cuyahoga County so that he can continue to operate the golf course he and his family built next to Cuyahoga County Airport more than 20 years ago.

LaConte is embroiled in a dispute over what he should pay the county in the future under their lease agreement and what he is late paying for Airport Greens Golf Course. LaConte says he is willing to pay but needs officials to be reasonable at a time when the golf business remains in a prolonged slump.

“We’re just asking to pay something that’s fair and so it will work,” LaConte said.

Airport Greens Golf Course is a modest 18-hole track at White and Richmond roads. Most of the property is in Willoughby Hills and the rest in Highland Heights.

The negotiations about the future of the golf course are in the hands of LaConte’s attorneys and the county prosecutor’s office.

Assistant Prosecutor David Lambert said Wednesday that the county wants the golf course and the LaConte family to succeed but that the two sides are too far apart at the moment.

“We’d like to see it continue to operate,” Lambert said. “If the operators are not willing to continue, we’ll make a decision when that happens. I don’t think anyone is attempting to shut the operation down. We’re attempting to work with the operator.”

LaConte owes the county $110,000. He said he is willing to pay that back over 10 years. Lambert said LaConte wanted 30 years to make payments. LaConte said he wants to pay the county either 5 percent of gross revenue or $40,000 a year. Lambert says the current lease calls for $62,500 annually.

LaConte said it was the brainchild of his father, Richard, and former airport manager Robert Shea to turn 130 acres of weed-strewn fields into a golf course and driving range. Richard LaConte had the experience, having owned Parkview Golf Course on SOM Center Road in Mayfield, Briarwood Golf Course in North Royalton and courses in Dayton and Florida.

The LaContes and the county received Federal Aviation Administration approval to proceed. The LaContes borrowed $2.7 million and designed and built the course themselves. It opened for play in April 1991.

They signed a 25-year-lease that called for payments of either a percentage of the gross proceeds or a set fee, whichever was higher. Gary LaConte said they always had to pay the set fee. The original deal called for turning ownership of the course over to the county after 25 years, although that was later stretched to 60 years. That deal also called for fee increases every five years, which LaConte said is no longer manageable.

Gary LaConte said that since the golf course business went into a deep dive in 2006 along with the local economy, he has been “begging” the county to rework the terms of the deal. He said he hasn’t paid himself since 2009 and has been operating the course using a home equity line of credit. He sued the county in Common Pleas Court this year, he said, to get officials to the negotiating table.

“It’s been a struggle, and we’re just trying to ask them for mercy and put this in a position where it’s realistic,” LaConte said.

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