For sale: Brackenridge Heights Golf Course listed for $2.5M in Harrison
Ted Tomson remembers sneaking onto Brackenridge Heights Golf Course as a kid to gather errant golf balls from the course’s pond.
“All the rich folks from here went there,” he said. “When I was a kid, I would sneak into there and get the golf balls out of the lake, clean them up and sell them back to the golfers, to those rich folks. They would give me 25 cents a piece.”
His golf ball recovery gig came to a halt when he was caught twice, in one week, trespassing on the grounds.
“I didn’t go back then,” he said. “I got my Valley News Dispatch paper route.”
Now, as owner of the course, he’s looking to make a bit more by selling it to the right developer.
That doesn’t include low-income housing.
The Tomsons squashed rumors about the possibility the golf course property could be converted for such a use.
“Low-income housing is not happening,” said Ted’s son and co-owner, Rubus Tomson. “It’s a rumor. Nobody approached us about that, and it’s not an option.”
The course, its clubhouse and restaurant are listed on Loopnet.com for $2.5 million, priced $500,000 less than the $3 million price tag when the property was for sale in 2017.
The 83-acre property at 1299 Lane Ave., just off State Street, is owned by Tomson Scrap Metal of Brackenridge, a family-owned business with locations in the Karns section of Harrison and Brackenridge.
Co-owners and brothers Ted and Doug Tomson, along with Rubus, say their decision to remarket the property is a business one.
“We’re looking to downsize our property portfolio, and we’re overwhelmed with other business demands,” Rubus Tomson said.
The Tomson family portfolio includes Tomson Scrap Metal, Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township, multiple farms in Harrison, Clinton and Fawn townships, and Dirt.TV, a media subsidiary of Lernerville Speedway.
According to the online listing, the country club property is zoned C-1 Conservation. That restricts what could be built on the property.
Under the township’s C-1 Conservation District regulations, permitted uses include public parks and playgrounds, cemeteries, country clubs, fire stations, communication towers on an existing structure, agriculture, no-impact home-based businesses, greenhouses and nurseries, and forestry.
Conditional uses, subject to approval by the township, include single-family housing, a personal care, day care or assisted-living facility, a senior living community, a bed-and-breakfast, a kennel, outdoor recreation, churches, and deep coal mining.
Harrison Township Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer Bill Huet said the property could be rezoned depending on the buyer’s intentions.
That would have to be approved by the township commissioners. Under state law, any new zoning designation would have to be complementary to the zoning of surrounding properties — in this case residential.
Huet, 60, recalled the golf club as a “booming country club” back in the day.
“I used to golf there as a guest and was a caddy one year. I had my Highlands High School reunion there. It was very popular,” Huet said.
The nine-hole golf course opened for play in 1918. The country club was established in 1914.
The Tomsons closed the clubhouse and restaurant in 2019, but the golf course remains open to the public on a seasonal basis, typically April through November.
The family said they have no timeline for selling and hope a sale happens organically.
The family had high hopes for reviving the well-established country club when they bought the course for $970,000 in November 2011, after First Commonwealth Bank foreclosed on the property.
The club had been private for almost 100 years before the Tomsons opened it to the public.
Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in upgrades, the family remodeled and opened the shuttered Tables on the Green restaurant, with views of the golf course, well-received by diners, until the pandemic shutdown wreaked havoc on businesses.
“The pandemic happened and we just couldn’t keep it open,” said Ted Tomson, 72. “We tried to make the golf course work and along came covid. And we just couldn’t keep it up.”
A few years ago, Ted Tomson noted, one potential developer expressed an interest in opening a holistic and wellness rehabilitation complex for veterans, but township officials questioned the would-be developer’s ability to complete the project and whether the plan would align with zoning regulations for the property.
The developer ultimately decided to look at other properties, Rubus Tomson said.
The online listing brochure touts the course as suitable for repurposing into a 55-and-older community, senior care facility or any congregate living model that would benefit from the existing clubhouse’s use as a gathering place.
The club’s in-ground pool, once a popular summer swimming and social spot, has since been filled in. The expansive patio remains.
The red brick clubhouse, which originally welcomed only men, features an original spiral staircase, two fireplaces and hanging chandeliers. It was built around 1920.
The Tomsons recalled frequent family gatherings at the clubhouse and decided to buy it even though they were never members.
“It’s a beautiful place, and we hated to see it go to seed. It was falling apart,” Ted Tomson said.
Doug Tomson has always been drawn to the spring-fed pond on the golf course.
The pond irrigates the course and is fed by more than seven natural springs.
Listing agent John Westermann of SVN Three Rivers Commercial Advisors, based in Downtown Pittsburgh, began handling the listing about two weeks ago.
“We’ve been marketing it to two types of buyers — developers of single-family homes and people who are interested in operating the property as a golf course,” he said. “We believe we can find some strong buyer interest from both groups.”
He estimated about 80% of the acreage is suitable for development.
“Our office has sold several golf courses, and this property is beautiful inside and out,” Westermann said. “I had productive talks already with three parties that are well-qualified.”
Westermann said the property’s proximity to Route 28 is enticing to developers.
“It’s such a quick jump onto Route 28, and that’s an easy commute. A developer would look at the surrounding housing submarket as a solid middle-class area. It wouldn’t be a place for ‘McMansions,’ ” he said.
The average household income in Harrison is about $63,000, according to statistics from the 2020 U.S. Census.
“I think $250,000 homes would be a nice fit here,” Westermann said.
Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com
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