The 122-acre property, parts of which were first developed into a golf course in 1920, was sold to Fiore Realty Holdings on February 22 for $1.9 million. Owner William Najam sold the golf course in the face of mounting competition from other area courses and an overall decline in golfing.

The sale of the Southwick (Mass.) Country Club to real estate investors with plans to create a development of $200,000 to $300,000 homes is final, the Springfield-based MassLive reported.

The 122-acre property, parts of which were first developed into a golf course in 1920, sold to Fiore Realty Holdings on February 22 for $1.9 million, according to a deed filed at the Hampden County Registry of Deeds. The sale includes the Candlewood Inn restaurant on the property. News of what was then a pending sale first became public in November, MassLive reported. 

Richard E. Fiore Jr. of Fiore Realty Holdings said that he and his team have a meeting with the Southwick Planning Board March 20. He’s hopeful that, if he can get approvals in time, contractors can start building streets for his planned subdivision in April, MassLive reported.

“There is a long process,” Fiore said.

The town wants him to proceed under the “flexible residential” portion of its master plan, Fiore said. Under that plan, he would give up land in the parcel to the town for parks and trails in exchange for rules allowing him to build on lots with less street frontage, MassLive reported.

“I like the idea of trails because it would make the property more attractive to home buyers,” Fiore said.

Decisions have yet to be made, but Fiore estimated that the property could become as many as 80 or as few as 65 single-family homes, each on lots as small as three-quarters of an acre or as large nearly three acres. He’s starting to line up builders but also plans to sell lots to people who have their own builders, MassLive reported.

Longtime Southwick Country Club owner William Najam sold the golf course in the face of mounting competition from other area courses and a decline in golfing. Najam at one point gave the town of Southwick the right of first refusal on the propriety in exchange for a tax break under an open-space preservation program. The town declined in late 2017 to exercise its right to buy the land, MassLive reported.