Exclusive
'Korea’s First Runway-Style Golf Course' Yeongam Cosmos Links Put Up for Public Auction

[비즈한국] Cosmos Links in Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do, known as Korea’s first runway-style golf course, has recently been put up for public auction. Financial institutions that provided funding for the golf course development project requested the sale due to loan defaults. The developer of the project had opened the golf course this past March after securing 60 billion won in project financing (PF) loans from these institutions.

According to industry sources, Woori Asset Trust placed the Cosmos Links golf course in Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do, up for public auction on the 27th of last month. The assets include three buildings and a 3.4 million-square-meter site located in the Samho District of 'Solaseado,' a tourism and leisure-type enterprise city in Yeongam and Haenam. The minimum bid price has been set at 206 billion won based on appraisal results. The first round of the auction will take place on the 9th.

Cosmos Links is the first runway-style golf course in the country. It was designed by placing four rectangular runways, each 1,850 meters long and 100 meters wide, side by side. The 18-hole course was created by laying out four holes per runway, with two additional holes spanning the transition between runways. The total length of all courses is 6,722 meters, making it the longest in Korea. To add difficulty to the otherwise linear and monotonous layout, 365 crater-shaped bunkers were incorporated throughout the course.

The development of the Cosmos Links golf course was led by Park County, which currently operates the facility. Park County is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seonamhae-an Leisure, the developer for the Samho District project, which was established through investments from Ace Investment (62.93%), the Korea Tourism Organization (19.97%), and Jeollanam-do (16.66%). Park County funded the project by raising 60 billion won in real estate PF loans from financial institutions such as Seoul Central Nonghyup and KB Capital. After successfully hosting a KPGA Korean Tour event in September last year, the course officially opened in March this year.

The reason for the public auction of Cosmos Links is default on debt. According to the creditors, Park County failed to repay the PF loans that matured this year. Under the real estate trust agreement and credit transaction terms for this project, the trustee, Woori Asset Trust, is authorized to dispose of the property at the request of the creditors if the debtor, Park County, fails to fulfill its debt obligations. A representative for the creditor group stated, "The site has been put up for public auction due to overdue loan repayments."

Bizhankook attempted to contact Park County and Seonamhae-an Leisure to obtain their stance regarding this auction, but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, golf course transaction prices, which had soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, have turned to a downward trend this year, marking the first decline in five years. According to the Korea Leisure Industry Institute, the average transaction price per golf course hole this year is 7.69 billion won, a decrease of approximately 9% compared to the previous year. Having stood at 4.39 billion won in 2019, the average price spiked to 6.3 billion won in 2020 when the pandemic began, followed by 6.59 billion won in 2021, 8.05 billion won in 2022, and reaching 8.49 billion won in 2023.

Seo Cheon-beom, head of the Korea Leisure Industry Institute, analyzed, "Golf course transaction prices, which surged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, began to fall this year. This is because the profitability of golf courses has deteriorated as the number of visitors has decreased and green fees, which represent the average revenue per guest, have dropped." He added, "If the recently slowed supply of golf courses recovers and regulations such as maximum green fee caps for public-style golf courses—currently being discussed in the National Assembly—are introduced, transaction prices are expected to decline by about 5% annually."