Americans on course to buy up St Andrews

Published on Sunday 21 October 2007 01:03

THEY like it so much they are buying the town. St Andrews, the 'home of golf,' is on the verge of a North American takeover.

High-profile, multi-million-pound properties in St Andrews have been snapped up by wealthy American and Canadian businessmen over the last three years.

They include three properties surrounding the opening and closing holes of the world-famous Old Course, as well as two golf resorts on the fringes of the town. The investment to date totals well over 100m.

The latest is 9 The Links, a three-story terraced house that overlooks the Old Course's 18th green where Open Championships are completed. Up to 12 buyers were offered "fractional" ownership in the 3m property for 775,000 each.

While enterprise chiefs in the area have welcomed the new investment, some residents fear St Andrews is being turned into a golfing theme park for wealthy tourists, which will destroy the town's character and lead to soaring house prices.

Patrick Marks, secretary of the St Andrews Community Council, said: "Some do ask if we are becoming a golfing theme park. The golfing-related developments are all very well but they can become overblown. What happens if they go bankrupt?

"We are also concerned that too much development will lead to more traffic congestion."

The American revolution began in 2004 when Herb Kohler, the US bathrooms magnate, bought the Old Course Hotel, which lines the famous Road Hole, for around 35m from its previous Japanese owners.

Then last year, the Toronto-based Fairmont luxury hotel chain purchased the St Andrews Bay resort on the cliffs two miles south of the town for an undisclosed sum.

Tim Blixseth, a publicity-shy logging tycoon from Oregon, paid 2m for land at Feddinch, close to the town's south-western fringe, to build a 20m golf resort.

Meanwhile, David Wasserman, a US developer, paid 20m to St Andrews University for its former Hamilton halls of residence.

Wasserman said:

"I really only work with iconic real estate. There is no place like St Andrews in world golf. It's unique because of the sense of history and tradition."

Tony Martin, the Fife councillor who heads the council's development committee, said: "In general, this huge North American investment is a good thing.

"I am just pleased that this is where these Americans and Canadians want to invest their money."