Photos by Brendan Bailey for CaryCitizen

Cary, NC – CaryCitizen has learned that Lochmere Swim and Tennis Club (LSTC), a private entity that runs the pools and courts in the Kildare Farm Road development, has hit financial difficulties and will not open for the 2010 season.

The trouble began in the autumn when the Club notified the Lochmere Board of Directors that it would be unable to continue operation. Residents told this publication that nearby Life Time Fitness and the new Southwestern YMCA had eroded membership.

The website Stronger Lochmere explained the situation:

The Lochmere homeowners Board has been steadily evaluating and pursuing action in order to bring the issue of potential acquisition of the facilities of the Lochmere Swim and Tennis Club to a vote by the homeowners as soon as possible.

It turns out the HOA can’t purchase the Club outright because of outstanding responsibilities to “lifetime” members.

Based on legal counsel, it was immediately established that we would not choose to purchase the facilities directly from the LSTC because of their significant outstanding financial liabilities for ‘Member Certificates’ that had been sold to permanent members of the LSTC.  We do not want to risk assuming those liabilities.

The preferred course of action is to let Wachovia, which holds the underlying lien on the property, assume ownership. The LBOD hopes to then obtain a “clean title” to the facility. Stronger Lochmere explains:

We will not be buying the LSTC, but rather we will be buying the facilities.

In an update to residents, the community website confessed that potential buyers showed little interest in the facilities:

Despite efforts by the Club to sell its property, no other entity has expressed interest. Developers, swim/tennis organizations, and even the Town of Cary have turned down their offers.

Attorney’s for Lochmere Swim & Tennis, the homeowners association and Wachovia “have already begun discussions.” But the daffodils are already working their way up from the soil beneath the recent patina of snow. And if some resolution is not reached quickly, there will be no pool parties or tennis lessons at Lochmere this summer.