The Murrysville Golf Club is expected to remain open after an arbiter paved the way for current management to continue operating the course.
A court-appointed arbiter ruled last month that a three-year lease renewal be awarded to J.K. Golf, the company that operates the public course.
James Creenan, lawyer for J.K. Golf, said Thursday the arbiter’s ruling removed what officials feared was a potential lengthy legal fight over the property that could have resulted in the course shuttering before the upcoming golf season tees off.
The current lease, which called for J.K. Golf and its owner Jack Kerrigan to pay $1 annually in rent, was set to expire this spring. Litigation over the potential lease renewal was filed last year.
Property owners BIB Real Estate claimed a new lease agreement could not be reached, and asked a county judge to bar the course managers from removing buildings, course upgrades and equipment it purchased over the last decade.
J.K. Golf claimed BIB refused to negotiate terms of two, three-year options on the management lease.
In September, Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Harry Smail Jr. ordered binding arbitration to resolve the issue.
The arbiter found in favor of J.K. Golf. They ruled the first of two, three-year renewals of the lease be enforced, requiring J.K. Golf to pay monthly rent of $2,000.
BIB Real Estate attorneys said they will appeal the arbiter’s ruling relating to the rent structure of the agreement. The company bought the 137-acre property along Sardis Road in 2013 amid concerns that private developers might convert the grounds into a housing plan.
In a related lawsuit, BIB Real Estate claimed J.K. Golf was likely to remove vital golf course equipment and infrastructure upon termination of the lease and sought a judge’s intervention.
Smail said he will decide later this year whether BIB Real Estate’s lawsuit can continue.
Creenan said that lawsuit is invalidated by the arbiter’s ruling.
“We’re confident Mr. Kerrigan will be running the course for the foreseeable future,” Creenan said. “We’re not terminating the lease.”
