NILES — Marv Selge Jr. had many phrases to describe Signal Point Club, 1475 W. River Road: serene, well-kept, unhurried, beautiful, unique, a place where area icons met.

Years after graduating from Brandywine High School, the Niles area native became a member of the golf course near his backyard, one of a few
dozen.

Now, he is co-owner of the property it sits on. Selge, the president of Selge Construction Company, Inc., himself sits in an empty clubhouse dining area. The heat is turned off and health inspectors are checking the nearby kitchen.

Selge said he wants to make sure any future development on the course is done right. Meaning, he said, its future is what is best for the community, is carefully contemplated by community members like himself and pays respect to a wonderful landscape and history.

The challenge, however, is figuring out what that development may be and who is going to complete it.

Whatever Signal Point’s future, Selge is the man to see it done correctly, said Jim Ringler, co-owner, senior broker for NAI/Cressy Commercial Real Estate Company and treasurer of Niles Charter Township.

“This is our community. Our name’s going to be on it, what we do with it,” Ringler said, referring to the property. “We have all kinds of interests, but number one, to make the community better with whatever [development] this is going to be next.”

Signal Point opened in the mid-1960s as a nine-green, 18-hole course up against the St. Joseph River. It was the brainchild of Robert Bruce Harris and had the financial backing of Niles businessman and philanthropist, Larry Plym.

Selge said Signal Point became known as a place where area leaders met, made the occasional deal and played in a quiet setting. 

Signal Point was purchased by Blackthorn Operating Group in August 2018. The South Bend business operates Blackthorn Golf Club, Blackthorn Topgolf Swing Suite and cocktail bar, Spirited, all in northern Indiana.

Blackthorn allowed Signal Point members to keep their memberships, expanded membership to Blackthorn Operating Group members and allowed the public to play the course.

A Blackthorn owner could not be reached for comment by the time of publishing, but Ringler said the group was looking to sell Signal Point by the end of the golf season.

The urgency gave Selge and Ringler little time to consider their prospects, including what the property could become.

They brought in four other members of Selge’s construction company into the process. Ultimately, they made a purchase, and the other construction leaders became principals.

“We bought it because we want to make sure that whatever it ends up being next, and we don’t know that answer, … we want it to be right,” Ringler said.

Now, Ringler, Selge and the other principals meet once a week to discuss the property’s future. Both men said they were enthusiastic about the other men being from Gen X and Millennial generations.

Ringler said that the more time he spends around younger people, the more he learns and the better the person he becomes.

“Everyone is stirring each other up, and there are some really good ideas that come out of our meetings,” Selge said.

Having younger men on the project ensures that development will continue correctly and remain in the right hands in the case that something unforeseen happens, said Ringler and Selge, who are in their 60s.

The group has since spoken informally to the planning commission of Bertrand Township, of which 109 acres of the property sits in, and Sanya Vitale, community development director of Niles, of which 11 acres of the property sits in.

“Regardless of what use the new owners decide is best for Signal Point, the city is excited to work with them,” Vitale wrote in an email.

Bertrand Township officials declined to comment due to the development project being too early in the works.

Ringler said many meetings among the group of owners, community leaders and prospective developers are still needed, but it appears that keeping the property under residential zoning is best. About 10 homes already exist on the property.

This means that the property could remain a golf course, which is zoned residential, or it could become a neighborhood of houses with ample greenspace. It all depends on who wants to develop and what their vision is, Selge said.

For now, the property will remain a golf course. Beyond Signal Point’s clubhouse, where Ringler and Selge signed papers with health inspectors, the course’s final hole opens up to the St. Joseph River, its flagstick taken down.