After its main clubhouse was destroyed by the June 1 blaze, the 92-year old, Redford Township, Mich. property has contracted with a local architectural firm that has worked with other area clubs, to design a new building that will retain Western G&CC’s traditions while adding new amenities. The club has kept its golf course and pool open and built a temporary pavilion to continue through this season; “We haven’t missed a member event yet,” said General Manager Jason Iding.
After staging the five-day Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship, Western Golf & Country Club in Redford Township, Mich. is now turning its attention to the future following a devastating fire that destroyed the main clubhouse June 1.
Hometownlife.com reported that Nudell Architects, based in Farmington Hills, Mich. has been contracted to do planning and design for the rebuilt facility. The firm, which has also done work for other Detroit-area clubs including the Country Club of Detroit, Meadowbrook Country Club, Whispering Willows, Knollwood Country Club, and Oakland Hills Country Club, is expected to come up with a conceptual look for the new Western G&CC building within the next two weeks, Hometownlife.com reported.
“They’ve done a lot of clubhouses in the area. They’re currently in a project with Orchard Lake [Country Club] right now and have worked on some of the bigger venues here in the area,” said Western G&CC General Manager Jason Iding.
After a survey was sent out to the membership, the initial architectural drawings reveal that it’s hoped the new clubhouse will feature the best of both worlds, the future and the past, Iding told Hometownlife.com.
“I think what’s important to them is that we hold some of the old traditions [while adding] some other new and modern amenities that some of the other clubs have,” Iding said. “I think the style of it — most are leaning to a more traditional or transitional-type appearance to the club. But again, they want to make sure that we have the latest and greatest of everything.”
Demolition of what remains of the damaged clubhouse is right around the corner, according to Iding.
“As of right now, we’re on schedule to be the day after Labor Day [Sept. 4], because we wanted to have as many of the functions available for the members throughout the year,” he told Hometownlife.com. “We wanted to wait for the pool to close. It’s not throwing back any of the timing of the project, so we thought it would be in the best interest of everybody.”
The clubhouse was built in 1926 and celebrated its grand opening the following year, according to the club’s website, reported Hometownlife.com.
“A lot of things have to go on track, but the timeframe is somewhere between 18 and 24 months for a complete build [of the new clubhouse],” Iding said. “The members have been very responsive. We have about nine committees set up, for everything like interior design, landscaping, layout of the club, things of that nature. Everybody has done their part and pulled together.”
The 92-year-old Western G&CC is “a real family club” with about 400 member families, Andrew Arena, Vice President of the club’s Board, told Hometownlife.com. The club features an 18-hole golf course, a pool, tennis courts and banquet facilities.
While the fire proved to be devastating, Iding said that Western stayed on course with its summer schedule despite the interruptions.
“We were right up against it,” he said. “Once the fire happened, the team pulled together. We had our men’s invitational scheduled two weeks after, so we had a couple of temporary facilities up within 10 days. We worked with some really great companies and [disaster recovery firm] Belfor, obviously, helped us manage that process, which was great. They’ve been great to work with.”
A temporary pavillion, with a kitchen and dining room, was erected shortly after the blaze, Hometownlife.com reported.
“Again, the membership has been totally supportive,” Iding said. “Beginning on these committees, they continued to use the golf course [and] the pool. Now that we have this semi-permanent structure that will be here for quite a while, they’ve been in here dining and we haven’t missed a member event yet. We’ve continued all our golf events or had the same, with higher numbers than what we’ve had in the past.”
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