Lakeville golf club gets a reprieve

Mosca said he and mortgage holder Morgan Stanley finalized an agreement for a one-year forbearance, his second, about 30 minutes before the auction was scheduled to go forward on April 20. He had trouble refinancing the 180-acre public golf course after his balloon-payment mortgage came due, but he said he never missed a payment.

“I’m back in business; I was never out of business,’’ he said.

Mosca said he has a mortgage balance of $4.7 million on the property, which includes an 18-hole golf course, clubhouse, and pro shop.

In a typical forbearance, the lender agrees not to foreclose during a period of temporary hardship for the borrower, but after the hardship has passed, the borrower must make up payments on a predetermined schedule.

Though Mosca hopes to refinance before the forbearance expires, finding a lender could be a challenge. Getting a loan now wouldn’t be easy for any recreational business, said Joe Klein, general manager at the Back Nine Club, another public golf club in Lakeville.

“There is no question that golf courses and recreational-type places are really frowned upon by the people who are giving out the money,’’ he said.

Klein believes the health of individual clubs depends in part on their niche in the market. High-end private clubs and smaller, non-regulation courses like the Back Nine seem to be doing OK, he said, but some mid-level clubs have had trouble in the down economy.

“The public facilities that are user-friendly that are not really a strain on the wallet are going to be sought after,’’ he said.

As for the Lakeville Country Club, Klein said it appears to still be popular.

“It’s a popular venue, no question about it,’’ he said. “There are a couple of big leagues and some tournaments in the area that have been loyal to them for a long time.’’

Mosca plans to look into refinancing through the US Small Business Administration. The SBA guarantees loans made by commercial lenders but does not make direct loans.

David Hall, a spokesman for the SBA, said the agency launched a new program in February authorized under the Small Business Jobs Act that can help businesses whose commercial mortgages or balloon payments are coming due.

The loans are part of the SBA’s 504 refinancing program, but unlike a traditional 504, they do not require the business to expand in order to qualify.

Hall said a private commercial lender makes a loan covering 50 percent of the amount to be borrowed, and then the SBA works with an SBA Certified Development Company to secure up to another 40 percent, with that amount fully guaranteed by the SBA. Property owners must come up with at least 10 percent.

The total loan can be up to $12 million, he said.

The new version of the 504 program originally applied only to loans set to mature before Dec. 31, 2012, but the agency lifted the date limitation on March 29. In a release, the SBA said that because real estate values have collapsed, many small-business owners who took out loans during the boom have been unable to refinance.

Mosca, who is 73, said he hopes to operate the Lakeville Country Club for another 10 or 12 years.

He said he had a five-year note based on a 25-year amortization schedule. His balloon-payment mortgage left the full balance due when the note matured. Because Mosca could neither pay the balance nor refinance, the club went up for auction.

Jennette Barnes can be reached at jennettebarnes@yahoo.com.