Duncan Golf Management recently put forth a proposal to turn the unused driving range at Lakeridge Golf Course into an expansive commercial development featuring a boutique hotel, restaurant, bar and spa, event spaces, and additional amenities such as a pool, pickleball, tennis courts, and a new maintenance building for Lakeridge staff.
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TJ Duncan, president of Duncan Golf Management, knows the golf business as well as anyone in Northern Nevada. His late father, Tom, worked in the regional golf industry for decades before purchasing his first golf course in 2003. The younger Duncan had a hands-on education in golf course ownership and management starting at an early age.
Duncan Golf Management owns and operates some of the region’s most iconic golf courses, including Lakeridge Golf Course, Wolf Run Golf Club, Toiyabe Golf Club in Washoe Valley, Eagle Valley Golf Courses in Carson City, and Winchester Country Club in Meadow Vista, Calif. near Auburn.
If things go Duncan’s way, he’ll soon dip his toe — well, more like take a whole-body plunge — into owning and operating commercial real estate as well.
Duncan Golf Management recently put forth a proposal to turn the unused driving range at Lakeridge Golf Course into an expansive commercial development featuring a boutique hotel, restaurant, bar and spa, event spaces, and additional amenities such as a pool, pickleball, tennis courts, and a new maintenance building for Lakeridge staff. The development plan hinges on approval to convert the zoning of the unused seven-acre driving range from Parks, Greenways and Open Space to a Specific Plan District.
“We think it is an opportunity to create a development and facilities that will be welcomed by the community,” Duncan recently told NNBW. “We think there’s a need for more amenities as Reno continues to grow and more people move here. With the hotel, restaurant, and other things that are included, we are excited to bring more amenities to the community for locals to enjoy.
“We have had a lot of positive support so far,” Duncan added. “Obviously traffic is a concern anytime you build, but our traffic study concluded it would add less than 0.2 seconds to traffic at the intersection (of Plumas Street and McCarran Boulevard). It's the evolution of the city. Things change, and change isn’t easy for everyone, but we are excited about this development.”
Duncan Golf Management purchased Lakeridge Golf Course in 2013. At just 205 yards in length, the driving range has always been woefully undersized (male golfers with 10 handicaps have an average driving range between 230 and 250 yards). Duncan Golf Management closed the driving range in 2019, and the area now offers a view of lush green grass for the owners of the new condominiums perched above it.
The proposed development would require approval from the Reno City Planning Commission and Reno City Council. Lakeridge is a public golf course designed by famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones that opened in 1969. It’s remained largely unchanged since. Its signature Par-3 15th hole features an island green on the south end of Lake Stanley.
“If we get permission to build, every piece and aspect of the project will complement each other and the golf course,” Duncan said. “We really haven’t dived into (cost) except for some preliminary discussions – you don’t want to spend a ton of time working on all that until you know you can actually build it.”
For Duncan Golf Management, the proposed development represents not only a chance to enhance public amenities at Lakeridge but also an extremely rare opportunity to add a significant amount of new infill commercial development in an area that was built out decades ago.
The land behind the driving range was sold to Toll Brothers, which erected the Hilltop townhome community of 38 buildings with floor plans ranging in size from 1,900 to 3,000 square feet. Duncan said his executive team (mother Connie and sister Milly Duncan-Burgess) have been kicking around ideas for reusing the space for several years.
“We have been having conversations over and over,” Duncan said. “We have had different ideas thrown around over the years for the best use, and we came to the conclusion based on what is needed in Reno. I travel quite a bit, so I am well-versed in all the different hotels out there, and Reno doesn’t have that next-level boutique hotel that is not a casino. Having a product that is just a little bit nicer will go a long way in the community.”
Duncan Golf Management was founded by Tom and Connie Duncan, who moved to the Carson Valley in 1981 to work as golf course operators. In 2003, the couple liquidated their savings to purchase their first golf course. TJ Duncan said the commercial development is the next evolution of business for Duncan Golf Management.
“It secures a future for our family,” he said. “We have been small business owners in the golf industry for a long time. This is outside of the sandbox for us, but it is up to my sister and I to push the company forward. Hopefully this plan comes to fruition and my nephews take it over one day when they become (working) professionals.”