The 55-year-old Jurupa Valley, Calif. club closed on December 31st. The 112-acre property will now be the site of 650 homes, 4.4 acres of retail and commercial businesses, and 18 acres of open-space greenbelt along the Santa Ana River.
Paradise Knolls Golf Course in Jurupa Valley, Calif. closed on December 31st, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. Golf carts were removed a day earlier, and signs at the property advertised that lights, fixtures, picture frames, computers and desks are for sale.
Soon, construction will begin on a project to replace the 55-year-old golf course with 650 homes, 4.4 acres of retail and commercial businesses and 18 acres of open space greenbelt along the Santa Ana River, Jim Kozak, who represents the property owner, Paradise Jurupa LLC, told The Press-Enterprise.
The greenbelt will include horse trails, arenas and boarding stables, The Press-Enterprise reported, and the public will be able to access it for free—which they couldn’t do when it was a golf course, Kozak said.
“It’s bittersweet,” Kozak said. “It started in 1964 and it served the community very well, but when you look at what happened in the golf industry, there really hasn’t been any growth in the last 10 to 15 years, but there were actually too many golf courses built.”
The 18-hole golf course was profitable, General Manager Jeff Walser told The Press-Enterprise.
“The course has been successful for many many years,” he said. “It’s a very user-friendly course, and great to walk.”
The 20-mile radius of Paradise Knolls includes two dozen other courses, including three within three miles, The Press-Enterprise reported. But each of them has a unique character, said Walser, who has managed the course for 13 years on behalf of American Golf. Walser said he’s sad to lose the home of so many memories.
“It’s going to be a nice, beautiful home development at some point,” he said. “But I hate to see any golf course go away. There have been a lot of tournaments played here, and a lot of friendships.”
Paradise Knolls is an important part of maintaining friendships for Corona resident Tom Truong, who told The Press-Enterprise he came to the course two or three times a week.
“You meet old friends, young friends—it’s always good to see people here,” said Truong, 46, who’s been playing golf at Paradise Knolls about two years.
The past 15 years have seen a number of Inland golf courses close, with many of them being replaced by homes, The Press-Enterprise reported. Since 2017, golf courses in Corona, Calimesa, San Bernardino and Hemet have closed.
Meanwhile, state officials say the lack of housing in California is a crisis, and have told Southern California to build 1.34 million new homes between 2021 and 2029, The Press-Enterprise reported. Jurupa Valley, which has about 100,000 residents, is expected to build 4,261 new units in that time, according to the Southern California Association of Governments.
San Diego-based Strategic Land Partners bought Paradise Knolls in 2014 and has pursued plans to build on the property since then, The Press-Enterprise reported. Final engineering on the first phase—107 single-family homes—is underway, and a builder will be announced by February, said Kozak, the company’s president. Multi-family units and either town homes or condos are planned for later.
“That [delay] is part of the reason we have a housing crisis,” Kozak said.
In addition to completing environmental requirements, he told The Press-Enterprise, the company has met with residents and the equestrian community to find out what they would like from the property.
And it’s given golfers time to adjust, The Press-Enterprise reported.
“We saw the writing on the wall, but we’ve been hoping they’ll keep some of this course, maybe at least nine holes,” Truong said. “It’s sad to lose a place where people have made so many memories.”
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