New Summerlin golf course owners share vision for $300M private club

Andrew Pascal said the turning point for him and his partner Mike Mixer buying Bear’s Best Las Vegas golf course in Summerlin for $30.5 million last spring started with the land.

The course in The Ridges being zoned residential like the Badlands golf course — which went through a lengthy and protracted legal battle that cost millions of dollars — was atop their minds, said Pascal, the founder of PlayStudios who previously worked at Wynn Resorts as the chief operating officer.

Las Vegas developer Yohan Lowie’s attempts to build a sprawling housing community on the shuttered Badlands golf course sparked years of litigation with the city, which recently settled for hundreds of millions of dollars after it lost multiple times in court.

“First and foremost we wanted to protect our community and this development from suffering a similar fate as Badlands,” said Pascal. “So that’s what initiated the whole exercise and got us interested and looking into it.”

What’s planned for the course

The two said in an exclusive interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that they plan on investing $300 million into the project, revamping the public course which originally opened in 2001 and turning it private.

“We just thought there was a really exciting opportunity to buy the course, keep it a golf course, but really transform it and evolve it and make it the most noteworthy course in the Las Vegas Valley,” added Pascal.

The property sits on over 200-plus acres located just west of the 215-Beltway in Summerlin South, and includes golf great Jack Nicklaus’ favorite holes on the course. Bear’s Best has won a number of awards and was named one of the best places to play by Golf Digest and Pascal said they are collaborating with Jackson Kahn Design, a golf course architectural design firm.

Plus, they have a new name in mind for the private course they will make public soon, Pascal said.

Pascal and Mixer said the plan is to close Bear’s Best this summer pending work with Clark County and relevant homeowner’s associations in the area, then start the redevelopment in September and then hopefully reopen as a private course in October 2026. On top of this will be a new boutique club, restaurants, bars and lounges along with terraces to go with the course’s clubhouse, including a number of other amenities. Pascal said they are also working on hospitality suites to accommodate out of town users.

On top of this are 15 planned boutique villas which and are scheduled for completion in December 2027.

Mixer, who is the co-founder of Las Vegas’ Colliers international office and has worked extensively in the commercial real estate sector, said golf’s resurgence among young people has also given the sport a new life and direction.

“I think it was kind of a pastime that was getting stale, and then COVID kind of optimistically pushed a lot of youth into the sport and they have maintained a strong interest in the sport to this day,” he said noting the demographic of golf is becoming far more inclusive.

Pascal and Mixer both play the sport and Mixer said they want to “reenergize” Bear’s Best at a very opportune time for the sport and the area.

“And both Andrew and I live in The Ridges so we really see this as an opportunity to create something special for the western side of Summerlin.”

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.