NEWS

Briar's Creek has lots of lots for sale

The only thing that marks the entrance to a super-elite golf course community on Johns Island is a wooden sign with the shape of a bird carved into it.

Members know that the small marker along River Road represents The Golf Club at Briar's Creek, a quiet, oak-tree-studded course spread over 300 acres.

But now, the image of the exclusive and formerly low-key development is splashed over a handful of magazine advertisements and local billboards as the club tries to attract buyers for the roughly 120 homesites available around the Rees Jones-designed layout.

Prices range from about $450,000 to $900,000.

Briar's Creek is no run-of-the-mill golfing development. Its 20 founding members paid $700,000 apiece for a stake in the project in 2001; among them were Jeffrey Immelt, chairman of General Electric Co.; and former billionaire energy executive Robert McNair.

The club currently has 192 members and an initiation fee of $150,000.

The developers originally set the lot limit at 60 and were set to start sales in 2004, but they had trouble finding the buyers of the right caliber, said David Bailey, the club's chief executive officer.

To date, two homes have been built at Briar's Creek.

"We understood that word-of-mouth wasn't going to sell the property and that we were going to have to do some major marketing," he said.

In February the club hired IF Development, an Austin, Texas-based marketing and advertising company led by former NFL football player Will Furrer. The idea was to project the community's "understated elegance" and a golf-without-a-tee time lifestyle.

"They have the ability to identify that person who can fall in love with this place," said developer Steve Koenig.

Built on a former cotton farm, the private, 18-hole layout saw about 6,000 rounds last year. By comparison, Kiawah Island's nearby Ocean Course, which is open to the public, squeezed in more than four times that amount. In 2002, Golf Digest voted Briar's Creek the best new private club in the country.

At first, members were skeptical of the marketing campaign - especially the use of billboards.

"We thought, 'Gee whiz, we're going to make it look like we're selling Chevrolets,' " Bailey quipped.

But Furrer said the strategy works well for attracting out-of-towners already familiar with the Charleston market, which is the club's target demographic.

Furrer said the multimillion-dollar publicity campaign won't fundamentally alter the cachet of Briar's Creek.

"There won't be any changes to Briar's Creek, just like the quality you never see change in a Mercedes-Benz or a Mont Blanc pen," Furrer said.

Bailey said the marketing strategy has worked so far. About 50 sites in all have sold.

The build-out is expected to take roughly 10 years to complete, Bailey said.

Market forces also have pushed up the number of homesites that are up for grabs. Developers have reduced the size of the lots after determining that most buyers wants two or three acres instead of seven-plus acres, as originally envisioned.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.