City to buy club
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 17, 2015 1:46 PM
Goldsboro is now a couple of steps away from owning its very own country club.
After little discussion, members of the Goldsboro City Council voted yes on the motion to purchase the Goldsboro Country Club with the hopes of moving in by June -- just in time for wedding season.
The club decided to close its doors just before Thanksgiving after accumulating more than $400,000 in debt in recent years. The last day the club was open to the public was Dec. 28.
The city will buy out the club's debt at cost, and spend another $475,000 to renovate the property inside and out.
At Monday night's council meeting, Parks and Recreation director Scott Barnard said the project could cost up to $1.5 million once all the needed renovations are completed, although city officials say that estimate might be high.
The city decided to purchase the country club because of its proximity to the municipal golf course and because the club would provide much-needed meeting space in the community.
"There's two reasons we want to buy the property, which is the value in the property and the community need," Barnard said. "We've got inevitable expense on the horizon with our existing golf course, with an aging club house and looking back through previous 10-year plans I found as early as the 2010 plan that it said we would need to reconstruct the existing golf course club facility."
Barnard also said purchasing the country club would allow the city to have a far bigger building for events than anything it would be able to construct on its own.
"Looking at the floor plans, the country club is about 19,500 square feet, so round that up to 20,000 square feet," Barnard said. "For us to replace the existing facility, it would cost us millions more than if we were to buy the country club and renovate it."
Several renovations will be made to the existing floor plans of the Goldsboro Country Club.
City Manager Scott Stevens said the main renovations needed inside the country club are new paint and new carpeting in several rooms.
The city would not use the existing kitchen as a full-service kitchen, but would cut the area in half and make half of it a warming kitchen for catered events, and the other half a locker room for the golf course.
The men and women's bathrooms would switch sides in the front of the building to allow more space for the women's bathroom.
Stevens said the country club will provide a rental space for events, soft tennis courts, a replacement for its current clubhouse, a better golf course, a nicer bar and grill and a one-level facility for the city.
Mayor Pro-Tempore Chuck Allen asked Barnard if June was a realistic timeline for the city to be in the country club.
"I think it is an aggressive timeline, but I think we can do it," Barnard said. "I want to have that space ready to show off to brides that will be walking through there this summer planning their weddings for the summer of 2016, because they plan their weddings about a year in advance."