The DuPont Country Club has been publicly listed for sale by international real estate broker CBRE.
The club was headed for salea as the company worked to cut costs by selling the Hotel duPont property and headquarters building. That sale to Wilmington-based Buccini/Pollin Group was completed earlier in the year.
The club is located on more than 500 acres of prime real estate. It features three 18-hole golf courses and 25 tennis courts, complemented by a approximately 113,000-square-foot clubhouse.
This offering also includes the nearly 60-acre Brantwyn Estate, with a three-story 28,000 square foot mansion surrounded by gardens. The estate and grounds are used for weddings and receptions.
The club served as the home of the LPGA McDonald’s Championship from 1987 through 2004 and will celebrate its 100-year anniversary in 2020.
DuPont long ago shed its second country club near Newark. It was acquired by the state and is now known as Deerfield. It is under private management.
The prime real estate would be a major attraction for home builders who seemed to gain an edge through the quiet lifting of deed restrictions. The move was reported a few years ago by the News Journal.
It remains unclear as to how the lifting of those restrictions would affect a sale.
However, any move in the direction of developing all or a portion of the property would be sure to spark a fight with neighbors as evidenced by controversial plans to redevelop the now-closed Brandywine Country Club in north Wilmington, the Cavaliers Country Club in Christiana and the former Three Little Bakers property in Pike Creek.
A plan to build luxury homes at the former Hercules Country Club is also stalled, due to traffic issues that might also surface with other proposed projects.
As the wave of local golf course closings demonstrates, making money with a country club is difficult without a corporate subsidy. The number of golfers has remained stagnant and rituals like Wednesday afternoon golf and dining at the club have become less popular.
Still, the DuPont Country Club remains a go-to destination for many business and club events and golfers – often DuPont retirees – remain loyal to the club.
