Longview, Texas resident Taylor Carter and his business partners purchased what was previously known as Oak Forest Country Club in April 2022. The club, which had been heavily damaged by a fire in 2021, will receive a multi-million dollar facelift. The first phase of renovations to the clubhouse itself are underway. It will consist of the 19th Hole restaurant, which Carter described as a family-friendly sports bar-type restaurant with televisions; a pro shop; and a lounge area. It also will feature four golf/multi-sport simulators. The second phase of work will address the two-story section of the building.
The second phase of renovations will address the two-story section of the building
A Longview, Texas country club that was heavily damaged by fire in 2021 has a new name and new owners, who are giving the facility a multi-million dollar facelift, the Longview News-Journal reported.
Longview resident Taylor Carter and his business partners purchased what was previously known as Oak Forest Country Club in April 2022, the Longview News-Journal reported. They have since changed the name to Crossing Creeks Country Club.
Since the club had closed, it had zero members when Carter and his partners purchased it, the Longview News-Journal reported. The private club has signed up more than 300 members since then, many who were members under previous ownership, Carter said.
“I would say the support of this place has been crazy,” Carter said. “It’s been unbelievable.”
The country club opened in 1977, according to the Aug. 28, 1977 edition of the Longview News-Journal.
“We saw it as a good business opportunity,” Carter said, but he said, “We got it in damaged condition.”
While the country club building was still standing after the fire, the interior of the 17,000 sq.-ft. building was a loss, said Carter, who is the managing partner of the business, the Longview News-Journal reported. Much of the rest of the 150-acre property was rundown and in need of updates and repairs, he said.
“Everything was burnt, nasty,” he said of the clubhouse’s interior. “The course was kind of let go.”
The 18 hole golf course is a Longview landmark, known for the way it catches flood water during times of heavy rains, the Longview News-Journal reported. The building was long a place where wedding receptions and other events were held.
The renovations to the building will be completed in two phases, but other parts of Crossing Creeks Country Club are already up and running, including the golf course, the Longview News-Journal reported. The business purchased mowers, for instance, to keep up the golf course.
“A golf course, if you don’t maintain it, it kind of loses its pretty aesthetics,” Carter said to the Longview News-Journal. Crossing Creeks also started a fertilization program for the golf course, and the bunkers were renovated.
Tennis courts have been refurbished and pickleball courts added, the Longview News-Journal reported. For now, the office is located in a temporary building next to the tennis and pickleball courts that is known as the “pickle jar.” It’s also where the tennis courts and pickleball check-ins are handled until the clubhouse renovations are complete.
“They were in complete disarray,” Carter said of the tennis courts. “The concrete was all busted and you couldn’t play on them.”
The number of tennis courts was reduced from six to two, which made room for 12 new pickleball courts.
A net also was added to contain golf balls within the driving range, with Carter pointing out that a number of houses have been built in the area behind the driving range since the time the country club originally opened, the Longview News-Journal reported. Crossing Creeks also has a new fleet of golf carts.
The swimming pool is expected to open during the coming swim season, the Longview News-Journal reported. After the fire, all the country club’s electrical systems were “dead,” Carter said. The pumps weren’t operating, which meant work had to be done to the pool as well.
The first phase of renovations to the clubhouse itself are underway, the Longview News-Journal reported. It will consist of the 19th Hole restaurant, which Carter described as a family-friendly sports bar-type restaurant with televisions; a pro shop; and a lounge area. It also will feature four golf/multi-sport simulators.
The second phase of renovations will address the two-story section of the building, the Longview News-Journal reported. Specific plans for that part of the clubhouse haven’t yet been determined.
“Our goal is to get this open so we have a restaurant, we have a pro shop and we have the lounge — somewhere for members to go and congregate,” Carter said of phase I.
He estimated that 60% of the membership so far is from the neighborhoods that have developed in the years since the club first opened.
“It’s a great location…”, he said. “Because we’re centrally located it’s easy for anybody to be a member.”
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