Ailing golf venture plagues Hendrix bid
Detroit mayor hopeful says Oakland investment doesn't reflect on him, but challengers attack.
"There has never been a question of my ethics. I have done everything in my career with integrity," Freman Hendrix says.
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Mulligan's Learning Centers, a pair of Oakland County golf facilities whose owners include three former Wayne County officials and Detroit mayoral candidate Freman Hendrix, has struggled financially for the past three years since a windstorm destroyed its practice dome, once touted as the largest in the world.
The centers have been sued six times since 2003 on complaints ranging from defaulting on a $467,000 promissory note to failing to pay for 8,400 golf balls delivered in 2002. Last week, Michigan filed a $7,208 claim against the property in Auburn Hills because the state was not paid withholding taxes.
In April, Oakland County filed a certificate of forfeiture against the South Lyon facility because of unpaid 2003 property taxes.
Meanwhile, contractors and the Internal Revenue Service filed liens totaling nearly $1 million against Mulligan's.
But Hendrix, who won a key endorsement in the mayor's race Wednesday from the Detroit Police Officers Association, says it's unfair to use the facility's problems to challenge his qualifications for the office, a tactic now being used by incumbent Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
"With this record of mismanagement, how can you trust Freman Hendrix to manage Detroit," says a flier being circulated by the mayor's re-election campaign.
Hendrix estimates he invested between $200,000 and $250,000 in the golf centers and concedes the business has failed to generate any return. But he said he was not active in managing Mulligan's and didn't make business decisions.
"It was an investment, like buying GM stock or real estate ... just like my other investments," he said.
"My life has been open book," said Hendrix, deputy mayor in the administration of Dennis Archer who has spent 30 years in public service.
"There has never been a question of my ethics. I have done everything in my career with integrity."No one can attack that."
The windstorm in 2002 was "devastating," Hendrix said, and the facility has struggled since. The partners have unsuccessfully been trying to sell the facilities, he said.
Mulligan's other backers include former Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara, ex-Detroit Metro Airport Director David Katz, and Dale Jurcisin, former Wayne County information processing executive.
Oakland County court records show that Katz and, later, Jurcisin both had run Mulligan's, but now a management firm has taken over those operations, Hendrix said.
Mark Zausmer, the attorney for the other partners, did not return phone calls nor did the partners.
Hendrix had worked for McNamara as assistant county executive for legislative affairs.
In general, it is fair to use Hendrix's business dealings as a campaign issue, political consultant Sam Riddle said.
"Hendrix is wearing the mantle of front-runner in some circles, and his business dealing is open for scrutinizing," Riddle said.
"One could infer from his business dealings the type of decisions he would make as the mayor of a financially strapped city like Detroit."
The investors began pooling their money to acquire land for the golf centers in the early 1990s, according to property records.
In March 1997, the partners purchased Hock Acres, a 27-acre driving range with an 18-hole miniature golf course in South Lyon on a $1.3 million land contract.
In 1997, the golf center was surrounded by farmland. Today, it is in the middle of a massive residential boom with new homes selling for $400,000 to $500,000, according to sale brochures.
Hendrix said the land there has development value, which could be a way to get out of the failing business deal.
Mulligan's negotiated a long-term lease in 1998 with Waste Management Inc., the trash disposal firm, for land to be used for the Auburn Hills golf dome, which was constructed over a landfill.
The Auburn Hills golf dome opened in December 1999. At the time, partners also included former professional golfer Rick Smith and attorney David Fink, a founding shareholder in the Michigan law firm Zausmer, Kaufman, August & Caldwell.
The $7 million facility boasted indoor and outdoor driving ranges, target greens, miniature golf and a pro shop. The main feature was the ill-fated 90,000-square-foot golf dome.
Shortly after opening the facility, McNamara and Fink, in a Detroit News interview, said they planned to add a 27-hole, par-three golf course and two more retail developments.
But a windstorm in 2002 caused a cable to snap and rip a hole in the side of the dome, shutting the facility for a year and touching off the series of lawsuits and defaults.
You can reach David Josar at (313) 222-2073 or djosar@detnews.com.
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