New Links for La Quinta

An Arnold Palmer-designed golf course is being built in a city that is banking on the $90 million project to drive major retail and residential growth. Weitz Golf International will complete the first phase next month.

By Greg Aragon

Bermuda grass is growing, water's flowing and dimpled white balls will soon be flying as the $90 million first phase of an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course in La Quinta nears its November completion date.

	The 82-mi.-long All-American Canal cuts through Silver Rock Resort and will supply water to the golf course's 100 acres of Bermuda grass (photo by Greg Aragon).

"We think of it as an economic development site," said Mark Weiss, assistant city manager with La Quinta and project manager for the first phase of the Silver Rock Resort project. "It's geared toward not only providing affordable golf for La Quinta residents, but toward being an amenity that will ultimately attract hotel and retail uses that will generate [money] for the city of La Quinta."

Located at the foot of the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains, at the southwest corner of Avenue 52 and Jefferson Street, the municipal golf course project sits on 525 acres that was once the site of the Howard Ahmanson (founder of Home Savings & Loan) family ranch. The La Quinta Redevelopment Agency purchased the property last year for $42.5 million.

advertisement

The 200-acre first phase was master planned by Newport Beach-based GMA International, mass-graded by Lemore-based Wood Bros. Inc. and is being constructed by Florida-based Weitz Golf International. It broke ground in February and is currently going through punch-list items and is in the grass "growing out" stage.

Project highlights include an 18-hole tournament-quality golf course, with driving range; 2,500-sq.-ft. clubhouse; 277,400-sq.-ft. golf cart path; and a golf maintenance facility. Dissecting the golf course and supplying water to its 100 acres of Bermuda grass is the 82-mi.-long All-American Canal, which runs through the back nine, passing holes 11, 12 and 15. Weitz constructed three bridges to span the canal and dug 20-ft. below it to connect utilities throughout the project.

	The most prominent feature near the 52-acre golf course is a rocky mountain range that will serve as a dramatic backdrop on many of the holes (photo by Greg Aragon).

The Silver Rock course will also boast $3 million in water features constructed by Huntington Beach-based Pacific Aquascapes. These amenities include seven lakes (ranging from two to seven acres) and various waterfalls and streams.

Designed by Florida-based Palmer Course Design, the Silver Rock golf course is expected to be among the top courses in the country and has already secured the Bob Hope Desert Classic for 2006.

"It has been set up as a tournament golf course," said Erik Larsen, project architect and vice president with Palmer Design. "It's going to make [La Quinta] a destination community."

Larsen, whose company also designed La Quinta's Tradition Golf Course and PGA West, said that he tried to design Silver Rock in harmony with the local ecology and terrain. He began with the realization that the most prominent feature on the site was a large, rocky mountain.

"I said, 'OK, we've got the mountain,'" Larsen added, "so we shoved the golf course completely over to the mountain so that it could have as much of an impact on the course and on as many holes as possible."

From there, he took 50 acres of soil and sand and turned it into a simulated mountainside with washes and gouges.

Oscar Rodriguez, Weitz' vice president of construction and Silver Rock project executive, also faced a hurdle with the desert environment. But it was more in his eyes than on his mind.

"Dust control was our biggest challenge," Rodriguez said. "Keeping the site environmentally safe and continuing to make progress while enduring tight [EPA] restrictions, was tough."

He said that due to a city ordinance, all work had to be stopped if the wind exceeded 25 miles per hour.

	Florida-based Arnold Palmer, third from right, paid a visit in August to the Weitz Golf International management team (photo courtesy of Weitz Golf).

"Many times, we had water trucks out there overnight, getting the dust under control, so that we could make progress the following day," he added. "The wind caused the loss of about 10 to 12 days."

In preparation for phase two, Wood Bros. has also prepared five building pads ranging from 10 to 14 acres in size. These pads will be available for as- yet-to-be-named hotels, residential units and retail.

The second phase will also include a second Palmer-designed 18-hole, championship golf course. The timing for this phase is unknown at this time as many variables such as water supply, hotel demand, the economy and market factors will dictate how and when it should proceed.