COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE : Birtcher Helps Give Doomed Cacti New Life at Golf Course

They don’t grow ‘em right in Palm Desert.

So Birtcher Construction Limited of Laguna Niguel and Scottsdale landscape architecture firm Allen & Philp transplanted giant cacti from across the Arizona border to landscape the new Bighorn Golf Clubhouse.

“California deserts don’t have many of those standard-looking cacti like you see in tequila commercials,” said Dave Anderson, Birtcher’s senior engineer on the project. “There were a lot of cacti that were going to be demolished for a development in Arizona, so we brought them out here.”

The imported saguaros are the stereotypical two-armed giant cacti, with delicate white flowers.

Bighorn Golf Clubhouse is part of a new 780-acre master-planned community in Palm Desert. The $10-million clubhouse, designed by Allen & Philp, is being built by Birtcher. It is scheduled for completion this November.

The 40,000-square-foot facility will feature a tennis and golf shop, a dining area, a fitness center and an outdoor swimming pool. It will have a black-granite exterior and a copper roof. And, of course, saguaros will be planted outside to complement its desert setting.