Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

The state is looking for bidders on the Riverside Golf Course. The golf course was shut down after it failed building code inspections. More than 100 people came out on February 3, 2011 to discuss the future of the course.

The golf course is on 450 acres of land that holds the course and the Indian Cultural Center. Although everyone at the meeting seemed eager for the golf course to reopen for the upcoming season, no one is offering a solution.

The state is inviting proposals from companies ready to rent and run the golf course on a three- to five-year lease, renewable for up to 15 years. The deadline for submissions is March 14, 2011.

"We're trying to help the community and see if we can keep it open," said John Webb, leasing and planning manager for the state property office. "We want to make a deal with someone who's strong enough to do what they say they can do."

The cultural center that encompasses the golf course is also home to a swimming pool, museum and amphitheater. The site has hosted powwows and the outdoor drama "Strike at the Wind," but the locally managed facilities have decayed in recent years. In 2006, the Lumbee tribe expressed interest in buying the cultural center, but no offer was made.

A second forum on the property's future will be held in Raleigh during the Indian Unity Conference in March 2011.