Give me back my golf course

J.W. Mays department store heir Lloyd Shulman, who owns the South Bay Country Club in Oceanside through a corporation called Weinstein Enterprises, has moved in federal bankruptcy court to terminate the lease granted in March by the court to Hewlett Harbor resident Tariq Kahn, the club’s majority partner, citing 65 lease violations, some of which, Shulman claims, are violations of the law as well.

On March 8, the bankruptcy court approved assigning the lease — formerly held by the Middle Bay Golfer’s Association, a group that filed for bankruptcy in January, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of both the golf course and the catering facility on the property — to Kahn, a member of the club for 14 years. Kahn owns a chain of 7-Eleven stores.

The motion to vacate the lease, filed by Shulman’s attorney, Howard Berman, on Aug. 6, asks the court to direct South Bay to vacate the premises.

“South Bay is in material breach of virtually every significant provision of every agreement it has signed,” Berman said in court papers obtained by the Herald. “In the four short months since it executed its agreement on April 8, 2013, South Bay’s defaults run well into the dozens and more are discovered with each passing day … Months have passed and South Bay has repeatedly been reminded of these obligations, every one of which is standard to construction and renovation work. It cannot be that South Bay, which has been represented by counsel at every step of the way, does not understand them.”

Kahn disputes the motion and is fighting it in the Eastern District bankruptcy court. “When somebody takes you to court, you have no choice but to respond,” he said this week. “The fact is, since I bought the lease, I have done nothing but enhance the golf course. You don’t have to pay for a membership any longer, you can pay for a round of golf and dozens of people come here. We fixed the irrigation and we fixed the pumps. The people who are saying that I didn’t do what I’m supposed to have a beef with me personally. It’s nothing but sour grapes. They want us to look bad, but we’re the ones who came to the rescue of the club. We went into default by one day — one day late and they took us to court.”