Expensive Swings—But the Chef Is From the Bellagio

The golf complex called the Presidential near Dulles airport has sold more than half of its 60 available $60,000-a-year corporate memberships. Among the early purchasers: Revolution LLC, America Online, and DC United.

By 2010, when the main clubhouse is completed, developer Eric Wells hopes to have sold 150 memberships.

The 18-hole golf course, plus a training academy carrying the Jack Nicklaus name, should open this fall. Chef Steve Mannino, formerly of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, is already in place.

The facility’s boardrooms and dining room are named after presidents born in Virginia. One room will be decorated with memorabilia from Redskins Hall of Famer Darrell Green. Although Dan Snyder’s Redskins Park is nearby, the Redskins owner has not signed on—while rival Ted Leonsis has.

One anomaly is that while the Presidential has connections to Nicklaus—the course was designed by a Nicklaus associate—the featured lunch drink is the Presidential Palmer, a combination of iced tea and lemon sorbet.

This article appears in the July 2008 issue of Washingtonian. To see more articles in this issue, click here.

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