Members of the Fritzel family now own the Lawrence, Kan., property, and plan to add a new 24,000-sq. ft. clubhouse, fitness and wellness center; four swimming pools; a larger training facility for Kansas University’s golf team; a two-story banquet facility; and a 2,400-sq. ft. sports medicine office. The golf course is expected to keep its 36 holes, but plans are in place to update the design.
Members of the Fritzel family now own the Alvamar Country Club, and renovations to the Lawrence, Kan., property are already underway, the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World reported.
A group led by Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel has been working to purchase the club. Gene Fritzel, Thomas’ father, is a longtime building contractor in the area. A trust of Thomas Fritzel and Stacia Fritzel are shown as the new owners of the property near the clubhouses, and a newly formed company called Eagle 1968 LC owns other parts of the club, the Journal-World reported.
The ownership group has filed plans for major renovations at the club, including the addition of many more apartments and living units around the course. Several folks who have booked events in the banquet space of Alvamar are already being affected by the renovations, the Journal-World reported.
An employee at Alvamar confirmed renovation work is underway at the clubhouse, and it likely will be closed for a couple of months. Lawrence architect Paul Werner has filed a final development plan for the portion of the club that is near the clubhouses. It provides more detail about what’s in store than any of the other plans filed thus far:
- A new two-story, 24,000-sq. ft. clubhouse, fitness and wellness center is planned for the area near the entrance to the current driving range of the course.
- Four swimming pools will be added to the property. They include a 50 foot by 80 foot pool with a slide, a 30 by 50 foot lap pool and a pair of smaller pools that are 16 by 24 and 16 by 16 foot. The pools will be surrounded by about 6,000-sq. ft. of cabana space. The pool area also will include a 2,500-sq. ft. grill area. The pools are proposed to be concentrated in an area kind of near where the public clubhouse is located today. That clubhouse will be removed.
- Kansas University is proposed to get a larger training facility for its golf team. Plans show a 4,000-sq. ft. building for the team. Currently, the team has about 1,300 sq. ft. of space at the golf course. The new building will be farther to the east than the current facility.
- A two-story banquet facility that will include 24 guest rooms. Werner previously has said the facility will operate as a minihotel that serves wedding parties who are expected to rent the attached banquet facilities. The guest rooms are also expected to be available to golfers who want to stay overnight at the course. The plans list the facility at 20,000-sq. ft.
- 2,400-sq. ft. “sports medicine office” that would be south of the new banquet facility. The city’s planning department said it hadn’t received more information about what would be included in that facility.
Sandra Day, the lead planner reviewing the project for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department, said the final development plan must win approval from the Planning Commission before the project can move forward. The group hopes to get a hearing at the Planning Commission in February, but Day said planners likely will need to see more details before it is ready to go to the commission. She said the filings don’t yet include elevations showing how each of the new buildings will be designed, the Journal-World reported.
The latest plans are only for a portion of the project at Alvamar. The part of the project that involves building new apartments and living units around the course is not included with this most recent filing. The city has approved a preliminary development plan that calls for nine multifamily buildings that would house a total of 292 living units, the Journal-World reported.
The final development plan will provide more detail about where those buildings are located and what they’ll look like. The plans show one four-story building right north of the new pool area for the country club. The plans also show another four-story building just to the west of the proposed pool area, the Journal-World reported.
Also expect significant changes to the golf course design. The new owners have committed to keeping 36 holes of golf at the facility. The new plans, though, do show new locations for both the No. 9 and No. 18 greens. No word yet on when those changes will begin, the Journal-World reported.
The letter to members, however, indicated some more minor changes to the golf course are already underway. It noted crews will be removing and thinning some trees to improve the quality of play and turf conditions. The new owners have kept Orion Golf Management to oversee the course, which has been in charge of golf operations for the last three years, the Journal-World reported.
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