ST. GEORGE — The Bloomington Country Club began a new era as the doors to the newly remodeled clubhouse were opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning.
After six months of labor and over $1 million in expenses the revamped clubhouse has been extensively rebuilt, marking another step in multiple operations aimed at improving the Bloomington Country Club.
“This is the first phase of many phases,” Darcy Stewart, managing partner for SunRiver Development said. “The next remodel will be the pool area. We’ll build a fitness facility and a spa … then we’re going to do some townhomes, we’re going to have some lots that people can buy and build homes on. Then we’re going to completely redo the golf clubhouse.”
The clubhouse is an amazing, iconic building, Stewart said, but at over 50 years of age was in need of new electrical and plumbing systems along with updated heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
“It’s basically a brand new building, using the old bones,” he said.
Kristen Brooksby, project manager, said the original intent was to give the aging clubhouse a facelift, but as the demolition began, it quickly became obvious that the structure was in need of more than a fresh coat of paint.
“We dug into it and it turned into a full-blown remodel,” Brooksby said. “The exterior shell of the building is the same, pretty much everything other than that is brand new, so mechanical, electrical, the kitchen, so it really is a state of the art facility.”
“We thought we could do it in two months, it’s taken us six months,” Stewart said, “We didn’t realize the extent of the remodel it was going to require. I think we originally budgeted something in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million and we’re well over a million over that.”
Velvet Hannig, executive assistant of member services, said there was a lot of gratitude to both Brooksby and Stewart for their work in completing the project.
“Kristen Brooksby did an awesome job with the development and the interior design and we’re so grateful for Darcy Stewart and SunRiver Development that’s helped us make this what it is today,” Hannig said.
City Councilman Ed Baca was on hand for the ribbon-cutting and was impressed not just with the new facility, but with the overall development of Bloomington and SunRiver. He said:
This is a wonderful addition to the city of St. George. Of course, Bloomington Country Club has been here for quite a while and this is just an added development that shows the improvement and advancement that’s taking place throughout the community.
James Blair, head of golf operations for the SunRiver group, said there was a lot of excitement throughout the community for not only the remodeling of the clubhouse, but also for the many future improvements such as the renovation of the golf course itself, which is expected to be completed in October.
“There’s been a lot of excitement … I’m sure we have a few detractors, but it’s 95-5 everybody likes what we’re doing, they see the quality, just what we’re doing, glitzing it up, giving it the facelift that it needs,” Blair said.
The new clubhouse already has 49 events scheduled, Stewart said, adding that it was a great facility before the update, but it will have even more to offer the community now.
“It’s been a great facility, we think going forward it’s going to be a great facility,” he said.
The opening of the clubhouse is a marked turnaround from the summer of 2015, when there were discussions of closing the Bloomington Country Club. Built in 1969, the Country Club was the area’s first 18-hole golf course.
Resources
- Bloomington Country Club Web page
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