The three-phase project at the 111-year-old Texas club will seek to attract new members with youth programs, child care, playgrounds, a fitness center and other resort-like amenities, and also enlarge kitchen facilities to accommodate larger catering events. “That’s where we need to go,” said General Manager Andy Khatami.
El Paso Country Club is preparing for a major transformation, as part of an effort to become more family-oriented and attract more young people, El Paso Inc. reported.
The $8 million project will unfold over the next four years, El Paso Inc. reported, and will include a new 16,000-sq.-ft. family center, expanded banquet facilities, outdoor patio, kiddie pool with splash park, tennis court improvements, swanky dining room and new grand entrance.
“The private-club business is becoming more of a family environment,” Andy Khatami, El Paso CC’s General Manager, told El Paso Inc. “It’s not as much about golf anymore, although it’s still very important.”
Khatami started in the business as a young man washing dishes, working his way up through the ranks, El Paso Inc. reported. A lot has changed since then, he says. Life at the country club no longer revolves around men and golf; those days are long gone. Now it is a family destination, and the club hopes to lure younger members with youth programs, child care, playgrounds, a fitness center and other resort-like amenities.
“That’s where we need to go in order for this club to remain solvent,” Khatami said. “Looking around El Paso, there is no business that offers these kinds of resort amenities. We want to become a kind of resort.”
While the club’s finances are strong, Khatami told El Paso Inc. that membership has not grown in recent years, Today, he said, the club has 820 members and 311 golf members who pay a premium. Before the turn of the last century, the club had 550 golf members, but that number declined to 400 in 2008 and 350 in 2014.
“The club is very solvent,” Khatami told El Paso Inc. “We have very little debt. But the membership is stagnant. The golfing category is slowly declining, and the growth is in the non-golfing [memberships].”
The club now has 120 kids enrolled in its junior tennis program and 75 kids in a junior golf program that was launched two years ago, El Paso Inc. reported. In the summer months, 200 kids are part of its swim team.
Construction is scheduled to begin in March on the renovation project, which will be divided into three phases, El Paso Inc. reported.
The first phase will demolish the old pool building and build a two-story family center in its place that will include a 6,000-sq.-ft. fitness center, spa, day care, restrooms and locker rooms.
Overlooking the golf course, the family center will have an outdoor patio with a fire pit, trellises, cooling misters, a small outdoor kitchen and a playground.
Phase one will also improve the tennis facilities, to provide brighter, more efficient lighting that can extend playtime into the night. Two courts will be converted into clay courts, which are “very popular now,” Khatami said.
A system that automatically waters the courts from below will cut the hassle and expense of maintaining them, El Paso Inc. reported. And as an added bonus, the courts won’t blow away in March, when dust storms often blast into the city. Also, they will be easier on the knees of mature members.
Phase one is expected to take nine to twelve months, El Paso Inc. reported. Phase two will then involve the renovation of the club’s catering kitchens and banquet facilities. The new facility will accommodate 650 people, according to Khatami.
“The catering business is huge for us,” he said. “But because of our old facility, our catering revenue has been dropping.”
Phase two will also involve raising the driveway in front of the clubhouse and adding water features, a garden and a porte cochére covered entrance.
The last phase will involves renovating the first floor of the clubhouse, tripling the size of the bar and creating an expanded, upscale dining room, El Paso Inc. reported. A kiddie pool with splash park will be added to the pool area, along with cabanas.
Khatami hopes to have it all done by 2020, after which he will seek to turn his attention to the golf course.
“This business of building the [membership] categories—tennis, swimming, dining—will bring us enough revenue to invest in the golf course,” he explained to El Paso Inc.
Improvements to the golf course could include adding lakes and water features, improving the greens and grass, upgrading the irrigation system and adding new practice facilities, El Paso Inc. reported.
The club traces its roots back to 1906, when it opened as nine-hole golf course near Fort Bliss, El Paso Inc. reported. It moved to the Upper Valley in 1922, when El Paso businessman Zack White donated the land for its current location.
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