Courtesy / Steamboat Landing Mini-Golf
A mariner, covered bridge, plantings and woods are part of the features at Steamboat Landing Mini-Golf in Naples.
Updated: September 27, 2021
New life for Naples mini-golf course in hands of family buyers
Courtesy / Pride Family
Buyer Mike Pride (pictured with his wife Silvana and their children Sofia, Emma and Mason) said acquiring a miniature golf course was a great family-oriented investment for his portfolio.
It was a bit of a detour for a Falmouth investor who has been focused on self-storage properties in recent years.
But the purchase of a miniature golf course in Naples has been lots of fun for the husband-and-wife buyers and their children.
Michael and Silvana Pride bought Steamboat Landing Mini-Golf, at 15 Steamboat Landing Road, from Richard and Phillipa Cebra for $510,000.
Thomas Gadbois & David Jones of F.O. Bailey Real Estate brokered the deal.
The property includes an 18-hole mini-golf course and a 3,500-square-foot house with an apartment.
Steamboat Landing Road is just off Route 114, which leads to Sebago Lake, a popular tourist destination.
The Maine-themed holes, in a setting of woodlands and flower gardens, include representations of a New England covered bridge, lighthouses, a black bear and a running-water gristmill.
“I was looking at the listing, and I thought it would be perfect for Mike,” said Gadbois, who has represented the Pride in other transactions. “It’s a pretty unique property. He put the offer in immediately. They had other offers, too. But he offered over the asking and he got the deal.”
The list price was $499,000.
The property went under contract the second day after the listing, he added.
The co-seller, Richard Cebra, is a member of the Maine House of Representatives for the 68th District.
Family venture
“It sounded interesting,” Pride recalled of his conversation with Gadbois. “He had just listed it and had a bunch of showings for the weekend.”
Pride is a former merchant marine who got into the self-storage business several years ago and early this year broke ground on an 80,000-square-foot self-storage development in the Innovation District at the Downs in Scarborough.
The course is near Brandy Pond, where the Prides, as members of the Freedom Boat Club, have access to a number of boats and enjoy taking their kids there.
So Pride decided the property was worth a look: The course was an interesting opportunity and the house could be the family’s summer home.
“We’re not normally second-home people, but this one was interesting,” he said. “So I went up and said, ‘Boy, there’s a lot to this property. It’s been in business for 42 years, and you know if something’s been in business 42 years, there’s something going on. So that interested me.”
Pride also viewed it as a possible family venture. Summer was coming on when he viewed the property and his daughter, who’s 14, had started to look into getting a summer job. His children aren’t particularly interested in his other ventures, which include development of self-storage properties and commercial buildings.
“In my mind I was thinking, ‘How do I get these kids to buy into what I’m doing?’” he said. “So I called my wife and said, ‘Just come and check it out.’”
Pride was also thinking about the family’s experience of the past year.
“The kids had been cooped up in the house for a year,” he said. “And in the summer, they would have continued to sit around a lot, waiting for us to get out of work.”
A plan came together to move to the Naples house for the summer and have Silvana and the children run the business until Labor Day weekend, when the course would close and the family would return to their year-round home.
“The next morning, my daughter said, ‘Dad, we’ve got to do this,’” he said. “So we called her mom and convinced her.”
Repeat customers
The course was owned by the Cebras for about 20 years, said Pride.
“A lot of people have been golfing there for 42 years,” he said. “You’ll see at least 75% are repeats, who have come since they were kids and now they’re grandparents.”
The Prides moved in on July 2. It was a rainy weekend and they thought they’d ease into operations.
Instead, they immediately realized they had bought a business with existing customers.
“Cars started coming in and people wanted to play golf,” he said. “That first day we had 150 people and we were like, ‘Oh my, this is real.’”
His wife Silvana, 14-year-old daughter Sofia and 8-year-old twins Emma and Mason ran the operation through the summer. The course saw upward of 300 customers on busy days.
“It was a great first season for us and we're thankful for the opportunity to keep this Maine icon open for its 42nd summer season," said Pride. "And we're looking forward to its 43rd" year.
With a following already in place, the family started a Facebook page for the operation and plans to update the original website.
“We’ve already started to create friendships with the customers,” he continued. “It’s such an important part of their summer fun. We have camps that come with 40 kids. My daughter would do the introductions and would do the sales on the phone, and they’d show up and she’d show them what to do.”
For Pride, “Real estate is fun no matter what. This one got to be fun for the whole family.”
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