The Pinehurst brand name will extend to Aberdeen with the construction of a golf course and ""village"" in the Aberdeen municipal limits.Cost of the project has been estimated at more than $100 million.

Executives with Pinehurst Inc. announced Monday that the company has purchased a 275-acre tract on Highway 5 bordering Aberdeen and the village of Pinehurst, with plans to construct an 18-hole golf course to be designated Pinehurst No. 9 — as well as an entire community with a golf theme. The community will include 200 home sites, an 80- to 100-bed resort, upscale retail stores and restaurants, and a golf institute.Construction will begin in September on the development, which represents the fruition of an alliance between the newly renamed Pinehurst Company and Charlotte-based developer Celebration Associates. They envision more joint projects elsewhere.The Pinehurst Company — formerly ClubCorp Resorts, a subsidiary of ClubCorp — will manage and oversee the golf course, resort and community with the help of partner Celebration Associates. Celebration Associates is a developer of mixed-use, master-planned communities in the Southeast, founded by former Walt Disney Company executives and most noted for the creation of the town of Celebration, Fla., a planned community near Orlando.The Pinehurst Company will also be responsible for ClubCorp’s other resort properties, such as The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va., and Daufuskie Island near Hilton Head, S.C.. Though no name has been decided on for the new Aberdeen golf development, Patrick Corso, executive vice president of The Pinehurst Company, told The Pilot that the Pinehurst brand name will definitely be a part of the community’s title.""Will the name Pinehurst be in it somewhere? Yes — as our brand, it has to be in there somewhere,"" he said. ""It will not be the prime name. We had the debate on whether it will be ‘at’ or ‘of’ Pinehurst. ‘At’ implies it is in it (Pinehurst), while ‘of’ implies more of the brand. It (the Pinehurst name) is not to locate the site so much as it is to identify the brand.""Corso did say that all of the other resort division properties — The Homestead, Barton Creek, Daufuskie Island, and Palmilla — would also utilize the Pinehurst brand name, probably by printing the phrase ""A Pinehurst Company Resort"" after their names.Pinehurst Inc. and the village recently settled a heated legal disagreement over use of the word ""Pinehurst"" by area businesses. The resort argued that the name ""Pinehurst"" was the sole property of that organization and sought to restrict the use of the trademarked term by some local businesses. The village argued that ""Pinehurst"" is a geographically descriptive term that could not be completely controlled by Pinehurst Inc. In an agreement reached by the two sides in February, Pinehurst Inc. agreed to refrain from legally forcing businesses currently located inside the village’s corporate limits to cease and desist from using the name Pinehurst in their business name.Asked whether village residents might react negatively to the fact that a golf development bearing the Pinehurst name will be located in Aberdeen, Corso replied that the development is designed to preserve the ""ambience"" of the village and will be beneficial to the entire county.""We (Moore County) are either going to have unique or boutique shopping opportunities that are varied and interesting, or we’re going to see a mall or some kind of a large shopping center. The charm and ambience of the area would lead us to do this kind of thing, where you have a combination of residential, retail and resort combined — albeit very small.""So I would hope the residents of Pinehurst would view it as another statement of the quality of life. More goods and services of the nature which they’ve become accustomed to.""The 275-acre tract is located immediately adjacent to The Pit golf course and was formerly owned by Robert Trent Jones. Jones’ son, golf architect Rees Jones, will design the golf course.Corso told The Pilot that this section of land, along with adjoining tracts, was chosen for a number of reasons, including the potential for growth in the event that Pinehurst Inc. ever decides to add another golf course to the property. Of the 275 available acres, all but 50 acres will be utilized for Course No. 9, with the possibility of one or perhaps two more courses being constructed nearby. The remaining 50 acres will be reserved for the resort, retail shops, golf institute and 200 home sites.No projected prices have been set for the home sites, but Corso did tell The Pilot that in a nod to the Internet age, the homes would probably be connected to each other through a community-based Internet server. Also, there are preliminary plans to build a railroad siding to provide rail service to the planned community.And despite the seeming novelty of an entire community based on a golf theme, Corso added that the development would ultimately be a reflection of the village itself.""It’s going to be a mini-town,"" said Corso — ""no more than 200 homes with front porches and yards and state-of-the-art interconnectivity with the Internet. But it’s also a resort in its own right, so people could perceive it as a resort/residential community. It will have a hotel and a clubhouse and retail space, as well as commercial office space. That’s why we’re calling it a golf village — it implies a destination and a residential location, much like Pinehurst is a resort destination but also residential.""The homes and buildings will be constructed in what is described as a ""neo-traditional"" style to reflect the ambience of the village. Ground will be broken in September, with a projected finish in spring 2002.The natural topography of the 275 acres should make for a beautiful and ""challenging"" course, said George Blonsky, ClubCorp’s senior vice president for development for resorts. Blonsky added that the resort, shops, and planned homes would be located on the bluff parallel to Highway 5, looking down on the course. He also said that no homes would be located on the course itself.""The golf development will be separate from the course,"" said Blonsky. ""No houses will actually be located on the course. This will give us more room and an option of adding another golf course or two in the future if we so desire.""The planned golf institute will teach participants of all levels basic and advanced golf skills. Practice facilities will include a range and a short game area.There are no plans for specific stores to occupy the retail space, but Corso said the development would seek to attract ""upscale"" retailers.