DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Longtime golfers at Dauphin Highlands golf course will have two years to make one last putt before packing up their clubs as the beloved Harrisburg golf course sitting on 228 acres has been sold by the Dauphin County General Authority.
If the land is approved the DCGA is planning to erect it in two years.
When golfers come to play at Dauphin Highlands golf course, they are expecting to strike a hole in one on the treasured land, but now it could be a hole in none with plans of a data center.
Richard Michaelian, who has been playing on the course for decades, believes it’s bad business.
“This is a real waste, I think they’re really losing out by doing what they’re doing. I think with some better management this place could really be turned around, but the attempt has never been made and that’s disappointing,” said Michaelian.
The Dauphin County General Authority says Provident Realty Advisors in Dallas Texas offered $45.6 million to purchase the land.
“Data centers are unique injections of tax revenue. If you look at the West Shore, their estimates in the revenue [are] between 4 to 6 million a year,” said DCGA Board Member, Eric Epstein.
Epstein adds, “It’s clear to us that the school district, the township, and the county would receive increase revenue once the data center comes.”
The DCGA has owned the course for 32 years and weren’t actively looking to sell it. But after receiving an offer 10 times higher than the recorded value of the land, the owner decided to sell.
“The reality is the district, as well as the county, could use supplemental income. The government is not the resource that can fund all of our activity,” said Epstein.
The DCGA Board Member added, “I understand that there’s people who are unhappy with the decision, I get it. We listen to them, we hear them. It was not an easy decision, so we balanced interests and voted in favor of the common good, the good for the better.”
The authority has been selling its non-performing assets over the last 15 years because of the money they’ve been losing.
The board claims the proceeds will also allow DCGA to pay off the course’s $13M dollar debt.
Golfers like Hoodie Moran are for the sale and stated that people should welcome something new and embrace it.
“It’s a beautiful course and it’ll be ‘OK’ because there’s plenty of other courses here in PA that we can play. It’s the future, it’s what’s happening in this world, we have to accept it,” said Moran.
However, not everyone is accepting it.
“I learned a long time ago that money is never the problem and money is never the solution. It’s always something else. Go put it somewhere else, let this green space have its peace,” said Michaelian.
According to the DCGA, no ground will be broken until the tentative date of December 2027, so until then, the DCGA will operate the golf course as normal.
