Silverstone golf course sold at auction after history of bankruptcies, fire

A long-shuttered golf course in Las Vegas with a history of bankruptcies and deterioration has been sold.

The Silverstone golf course property in the upper northwest valley was sold at a Clark County treasurer’s office trustee auction on May 8 for the minimum bid of nearly $2.8 million, according to county officials, who did not name the buyer but said it was not the previous owner.

The buyer’s name will become public when the sales deed is recorded, which will happen within 30 days of the auction, or by June 8, said county spokeswoman Stacey Welling.

In general, the minimum bid amount at these auctions consists of delinquent property taxes as well as penalties, interest and costs incurred by the treasurer’s office, she said.

All told, the sale marks a new chapter for a golf course that has been closed for nearly a decade, saw its boarded-up clubhouse destroyed in a fire by suspected arsonists, and whose now-outgoing owner pushed the property into bankruptcy protection twice and battled in court with the surrounding homeowners’ association.

“It’s been a nightmare,” said Danny Modab, the outgoing owner.

‘No idea’ who bought it

This story was initially published online May 23. County records indicate the deed was recorded May 29. As of this writing, the Las Vegas Review-Journal had not obtained a copy of the document.

Modab, a Southern California investor, said in an interview before this story’s initial publication that he was aware that the shuttered 27-hole course at the corner of Grand Teton Drive and Rainbow Boulevard — just north of Gilcrease Orchard — was sold at the trustee auction. He said he did not know who bought it.

Modab, who confirmed there were property taxes owed on the site, contends the defunct golf course was “worthless.”

The site must be operated as a 27-hole golf course unless at least 75 percent of the homeowners in the surrounding Silverstone Ranch community, which boasts more than 1,500 homes, approve a different use, court records show.

But amid water restrictions for golf courses in drought-stricken Southern Nevada and golf’s waning popularity, it was not economically feasible to operate the course, Modab said.

He bought the course in late 2015 after the prior owner closed it, and Modab confirmed that he never reopened it. He said that he envisioned shrinking the course to maybe 18 holes and adding some housing but that his efforts to change the property’s usage fell through.

The Silverstone Ranch Community Association is aware of the recent sale but had “no idea” who bought the shuttered course, said Aviva Gordon, an attorney for the HOA, in a phone interview before this story’s initial publication.

Asked if the association wants the course to reopen, Gordon said her clients want the deed restriction to be followed.

Two bankruptcies

A California buyer took ownership of the Silverstone golf course in September 2015. But the owner immediately closed it, put up a chain-link fence around the site and turned off the water, according to court papers filed by the HOA.

That owner sold the shuttered course to Modab in December 2015, property records show.

But three days after Modab’s purchase was recorded with the county, he filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the holding company he used to buy the site, Stoneridge Parkway LLC, records show.

According to a court filing by Modab’s company, the golf course had not been profitable for more than a decade, and many homeowners, especially those who don’t play golf or believe a golf course is an “environmentally conscious” use of the site, “may support a repurposing of the property.”

The bankruptcy case was dismissed in 2017, records show. But in 2022, Modab filed bankruptcy protection again for the property’s holding company.

He said this week that the site was facing foreclosure proceedings at the time.

In general, filing bankruptcy protection for a property staves off actions from lenders or other creditors.

‘No insurance’

According to a court filing by his Modab’s legal team in 2022, there had been “significant deterioration” of the golf course grounds; some residents of Silverstone Ranch complained about snakes, mice and trash in the area after big portions of the course reverted to a “semi-wilderness state”; and after years of suspected use by squatters and other trespassers, the clubhouse was destroyed in a fire in 2021.

Two minors were later arrested on suspicion of second-degree arson, the Review-Journal reported.

Las Vegas Fire & Rescue said it took more than six hours to bring the fire under control. No injuries were reported, but the blaze destroyed the vacant, boarded-up clubhouse, causing an estimated $5 million in damage, the fire department said.

It also noted there were two other “significant fires in the same building” earlier that year.

According to a court filing in the second bankruptcy case, the creditors included the city of Las Vegas, with a utility lien of more than $88,000; the Clark County Treasurer ($1.74 million property tax lien); the Silverstone Ranch Community Association ($1.76 million HOA lien); the Las Vegas Valley Water District ($2 million lien); and Shun Lee Lending Ltd., with a claim of more than $6.4 million.

The filing also stated that no money was recovered after the clubhouse fire, as “the property had no insurance.”

‘Gone to their makers’

Modab’s company said in a complaint against the HOA that it tried for years to reach a solution with the association to allow for the sale of part of the property to be developed into housing while keeping a “substantial majority” of it as a golf course or other green space, court records show.

His company sought a court finding that continued enforcement of the existing golf course requirement would be “inequitable or oppressive” and that the company would continue to suffer damages due to the covenants.

The HOA replied in court papers that this second bankruptcy was the owner’s “latest attempt to cram a legally impermissible redevelopment plan down the throats of homeowners,” and that the court was not responsible for “bailing” the owner out.

The bankruptcy case was ultimately dismissed in spring 2024, court records show.

Gordon, the HOA attorney, said this week that there have been some issues with trespassers on the course and that there used to be serious issues with mosquitoes.

She wasn’t sure if wildlife were roaming around but said the desert is taking the property back over.

When the golf course was operational, there were fish and turtles in the ponds, all of which have “gone to their makers, so to speak,” she said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.