Plans have been announced for the private club to be managed by KemperSports and the golf course and restaurant to open for public access. Portions of the club will remain available to members only.
The Joliet (Ill.) Country Club’s golf course will be opened to the public in 2019, the Joliet Herald-News reported.
The club, which opened in the early 1900s, has been unable to sustain itself through memberships and has been under the ownership of Lisle, Ill.-based real estate company ROC Inc. since 2016, The Herald-News reported.
ROC Inc. acquired the club after taking over the bank loan that members took out to build a new clubhouse in 2001. ROC took over the loan in 2014 and worked out a lease-back arrangement to the club in 2016 when the company also became the owner, The Herald-News reported.
Members still will have privileges at the club, but opening the golf course to the public is expected to generate more revenue, said Michael Hansen, a member of the club and its attorney, The Herald-News reported.
“We think it’s going to be pretty seamless as a transition,” Hansen said.
“There just weren’t a sufficient number of members at the rate we needed to charge to operate the club,” he added.
In October, the club announced that management would be turned over to ROC, saying then that the move was made for the long-term interests of the club, and ROC would announce specific plans at the November membership meeting, The Herald-News reported.
Those plans, announced November 26, included putting the golf course under the management of KemperSports, the Northbrook, Ill.-based management company, and opening it to the public, The Herald-News reported.
The club will continue to exist, The Herald-News reported. Single membership in 2019 will cost $3,000 with rates varying for seniors, young professionals, pool-only and other categories.
The membership package includes unlimited golf; ability to make tee times 14 days in advance; access to the member-only Grill Room; free range balls; free locker; member tournaments and social events; 10 percent discount on pro shop merchandise; special pricing on guest green fees; and access to other KemperSports properties at reduced pricing, The Herald-News reported.
The public will have access to the clubhouse and most of its facilities. The new management is expected to promote the club restaurant to bring in more business, The Herald-News reported.
The pool will continue to remain open to members only, although the club has a pool-only membership for $800, The Herald-News reported.