The 120-year-old club in the Chicago suburb of Homewood, which features a Donald Ross-designed golf course, was acquired by Diversified Partners in 2020 and its closing was expected to make way for a new distribution center. But business has continued to do “really well,” according to the club’s Assistant Manager, while the new owners fight to gain the cooperation of local authorities and overcome the objections of grassroots organizations about the loss of green space and additional traffic the development would bring.
There’s something peculiar going on at Calumet Country Club in Homewood, Ill. south of Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
They’re still playing golf at a brisk pace at the club, which was founded in 1901 and features a Donald Ross-designed course, the Sun-Times reported. That wasn’t supposed to happen, because at the end of last year’s season, the place closed for good after a developer bought the property, members waved goodbye, and the clubhouse was locked tight.
But business at the club, which opened for limited public play in 2019, “is actually doing really well,” Assistant Manager Chris Fitch told the Sun-Times. “We get a lot of old caddies coming by, former members visit to hit a round and pick up a T-shirt. People are surprised to see us,” Fitch said.
As for the future, Fitch added, “I haven’t heard a word. Truth be told, I haven’t asked either.”
The club’s 127 acres were sold in November 2020 to an affiliate of Diversified Partners of Scottsdale, Ariz. (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/a-year-shy-of-turning-120-calumet-cc-destined-to-become-logistics-park/). In addition to paying $3.3 million for the club, said Walt Brown Jr., Diversified’s CEO, he also paid its back taxes worth about $500,000, the Sun-Timesreported.
When the sale was recorded, real estate firm CBRE issued a news release saying Diversified had hired it to market the site for 800,000 sq. ft. of trucking facilities, offering space to store 1,000 trailers, the Sun-Times reported.
But now Brown seems to find himself as the reluctant owner of the club, making what money he can from it this year while mired in the most vehement land-use fight in the Chicago suburbs, the Sun-Times reported, after a grassroots movement for green space and against truck traffic caught Brown and local official off guard.
While the club property was mostly within Homewood, it was de-annexed in April 2o21 by the Homewood Village Board after turning down the zoning for the trucking hub, the Sun-Timesreported. Village officials were caught between residents who slammed the project during hours of public hearings and the need to settle a lawsuit Brown filed.
Brown then said he would offer his property for annexation by the neighboring town of Hazel Crest, which already has a swatch of it, the Sun-Times reported. And Homewood officials feared he had a strong case for damages, because they had negotiated development scenarios with Brown for more than two years.
But the protests over the development were heard in Hazel Crest, too, the Sun-Times reported. Dante Sawyer, the village manager, said in an e-mail, “Hazel Crest will not consider annexing this property based on this developer and the proposed development plan.”
Sawyer did not directly answer a question about the tax revenue Hazel Crest might realize from a fully developed site, the Sun-Times reported. “The president and board of trustees express their wholehearted support for cooperation amongst stakeholders regarding any future development of Calumet Country Club,” he wrote. “Any future development must be in the best interest of our region.”
The group South Suburbs for Greenspace (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/community-group-fights-to-keep-distribution-and-warehouse-facility-off-calumet-cc-property/) continues to monitor the situation, the Sun-Times reported. It has shown it can turn out angry crowds, and its lawn signs saying “Truck No!” and other slogans are common in the Homewood subdivision south of Calumet CC.
Liz Varmecky, a member of the group, told the Sun-Times that she worries that a plan will reappear via Homewood when village leaders think the fuss is gone.
While Brown and his property currently seem marooned on a patch of unincorporated Cook County, he insists he’s still in a good position, the Sun-Times reported, and minimized the need for a municipality’s help in adding water and sewer hookups.
“It’s only a matter of time before it gets developed,” Brown said. “We all know jobs are what’s best for the community. Besides, this is private property.”
But while Calumet Country Club used to be only for members and guests, the Sun-Times noted, public access has become a stopgap to help Brown with expenses that include an annual property tax of typically more than $275,000.
And Brown has not convincingly countered the argument that he would bring in noise, traffic and pollution, the Sun-Times added. The Cook County Forest Preserve District considered acquiring the course in 2019, but spokesman Carl Vogel said keeping it a golf course would have required a subsidy. Furthermore, the land is unconnected to other forest preserves and would bring limited benefit as open space, Vogel said.
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