Several prominent Denver-area business leaders have sued the Green Gables Country Club over what they allege was a breach of contract following the sale of the club in June.
The 52 plaintiffs in the case, who had left the club, claim that Green Gables invited them to rejoin when a buyer emerged for the 152 acres the club occupies at 6800 W. Jewell Ave.
The members had resigned after being told last year the club’s financial prospects were dim and that a sale was unlikely.
As members, they had a right to a share of proceeds after the repayment of debts. When a buyer emerged in December, the club invited the former members to reapply.
But when they did, the club’s board did not reinstate them, effectively cutting them out of a share of proceeds when a sale did go through in June, according to a person familiar with the case who didn’t want to be quoted.
USL Denver Green Gables LLC purchased the club’s land for about $15 million and has plans to convert it to a mixed-use development.
The plaintiffs’ list reads like a Who’s Who of Denver.
It includes prominent lawyers Norm Brownstein and Steven Farber and their wives; printer Barry Hirschfeld; accountant Lawrence Gelfond; homebuilder Larry Mizel; and Samsonite scion turned developer Scott Shwayder.
Green Gables got its start in the 1920s as a place where the Jewish community, excluded from the city’s existing country clubs, could gather to socialize and play golf.
Denver District Judge Norman Haglund has been assigned the case.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
