Former Fort Worth zoning chair buys foreclosed country club for $8.5M

Redevelopment may be in store for a former country club in east Fort Worth that just changed hands via foreclosure auction.

Will Northern, a three-term former Fort Worth zoning commission chair and owner of Crescendo Development, purchased the 149-acre former Woodhaven Country Club, along with 14 acres of commercial land across three parcels, at auction May 7, the Dallas Business Journal reported. 

Northern assumed the $12 million debt that the previous owner, Woodhaven Country Club LLC, defaulted on, and subsequently pursued foreclosure. Northern bought back the property for roughly $8.5 million, or $57,000 per acre.

The future of the shuttered golf course and clubhouse is unclear, and Northern plans to gather community feedback before proceeding with redevelopment. The east half of the site is zoned for single-family residential, while the west half carries a community facility designation, reserving it for commercial use so long as it offers some sort of community benefit. 

Northern, who’s also a partner in Northern Crain Realty with Fort Worth City Council Member Michael Crain, called the Woodhaven a “diamond in the rough,” as it’s surrounded by multifamily developments plagued by high vacancies and crime. 

“I think a lot of folks in the community have been wanting change, but they haven’t had the right person to come along to execute on trying to make that happen,” he told the outlet. 

Northern believes a future redevelopment presents an opportunity to reshape a historically neglected part of the city. 

Woodhaven, built in the 1970s, is far removed from its glory days as an epicenter of meetings, banquets and celebrations for Fort Worth’s business community. 

Council member and Fort Worth Mayor Pro-Tem Gyna Bivens, whose district encompasses east Fort Worth, endorsed Northern as the right person to breathe life into the country club, which closed several years ago.

—Quinn Donoghue 

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