Aquila Property Co. and Allied Capital Corp. have teamed to buy the Binks Forest Golf Club in the Wellington, Fla., suburb of West Palm Beach, once one of the country's top golf courses.

Aquila, a Coral Springs, Fla., investment firm, and Allied Capital, a Washington business finance company, purchased the 17-year-old property from Peninsula Bank, which had assumed control over it several years ago in a foreclosure.

The property was developed in 1990 by Mike and Mary La Medica for a PGA Tour championship. The 18-hole course was designed by Johnny Miller and constructed in the middle of a forest of pine, oak and cypress trees. At the time, it was considered among the top 70 public courses in the country.

When the course lost its sponsorship, it ran into trouble, primarily because of the debt the La Medica's and their partners incurred in developing the property's lavish clubhouse.

According to Golf Digest, American Golf Corp. purchased the property out of receivership in 1997 and quickly resold it to a partnership led by a Michigan lawyer and New Jersey dentist, which invested additional capital into improvements to the clubhouse, but ultimately reneged on various debts, prompting an involuntary bankruptcy petition.

Peninsula Bank ultimately took over the property and put it up for sale with a price of $7.9 million. But the property included certain liens that probably drove its price higher.

As part of its purchase, the Aquila/Allied team plans to construct 90 townhomes on 15 acres that comprised the property's former driving range. The course sits next to a development of high-end homes.

But its main goal is to restore the course, which has been closed for five years, to its former glory. To that end, it has hired KemperSports of Northbrook, Ill., to operate the property.

"Closing on this property marks a monumental step for the course's revitalization and for the Wellington community," said Jordan C. Paul, chairman of Aquila. "We have reached the next milestone in the rebirth of Binks Forest Golf Club," he added.

The Aquila/Allied team plans to refurbish the property's 30,000-square-foot clubhouse, fashioning a banquet hall with catering services out of it. It will also classify the golf course as a premium, daily-fee property that would be open to the public, but have a membership component as well.

Comments? E-mail Orest Mandzy or call him at (215) 504-2860, Ext. 211.