MetLife on Thursday announced it has completed its purchase of Reynolds Plantation, the posh Lake Oconee golf community that tumbled into financial trouble after the economic collapse.
The New York-based financial conglomerate said in May that it was buying the six golf courses, four marinas and nearly 5,000 acres of undeveloped land tied to the resort, about 80 miles east of downtown Atlanta. The deal also included the lakeside Ritz-Carlton Lodge.
The sale was competed Wednesday. Financial terms were not released.
Birmingham-based Daniel Corp., developer and partners with MetLife on the 12th & Midtown mixed-use complex in Midtown, will oversee Reynolds Plantation, which has about 3,600 property owners.
In February 2011, Republican political heavyweight Mercer Reynolds, the community's developer and chairman of Linger Longer Development Co., notified members that the company's lenders were demanding repayment of debt. He offered to sell the members the community's golf courses and other public areas for $45 million.
The members declined, and in May 2011, a receiver was hired to operate the clubs and market the community and undeveloped land.
Reynolds resident Michael Lefkove called the MetLife deal "probably the best possible outcome we could have gotten."
Members weren't unscathed, as many will lose membership deposits — some worth upward of $100,000 — that Linger Longer promised would be repaid when members sold their properties.
Achasta, a Linger Longer community near Dahlonega, was not included in the MetLife deal and remains for sale.
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