Calumet Country Club to be shut down, all infrastructure to be demolished, owner says

Hazel Crest’s Calumet Country Club, the subject of a longstanding development fight, will be entirely shuttered, with all golf ceasing and all infrastructure to be removed, according to the property owner.

W&E Ventures announced Nov. 10 its plan to permanently close the Calumet Country Club, including all golf course operations, and to remove all infrastructure throughout the property to prevent vagrancy and security issues.

“This will include the removal of all landscaping, golf holes and building structures,” the company said in a news release, saying it was necessary “in an effort to protect public safety in the Hazel Crest community.”

The club had already closed for the winter season in October.

W&E Ventures CEO Walt Brown, Jr., an Arizona businessman, bought the property in 2020.

“We’re trying to get a permit. We’re working on submitting the plans for the demolition,” Brown said. “As quick as the city or county will issue the demolition permits, we can start that process.”

Liz Varmecky, co-founder of South Suburbs for Greenspace, a community group that has resisted efforts to develop the property for industrial use, called the announcement “a lot of bluster” and said she doubted Brown would go through with it.

“He has said many times in the past golf won’t be open the next season, and then come March, golf is open,” Varmecky said.

Efforts by Brown to develop the parcel for industrial use have been repeatedly stonewalled by community opposition, first in Homewood and then in Hazel Crest. The property was formerly a part of Homewood, but following a lawsuit between Brown and the village, it was detached from Homewood and annexed into Hazel Crest.

“We’re going to redevelop it at some point in time, when we do, we’ll figure it out from there, but we’re not interested in operating the golf anymore,” Brown said.

Before any redevelopment can happen, the Hazel Crest will have to rezone the parcel for industrial use, something residents have strongly opposed.

Varmecky said the plan to remove all the infrastructure and landscaping from the property didn’t make sense.

“That’s going to be a huge expense to take down trees, to take down landscaping, for what?” Varmecky said. “To avoid vagrancy, which, there isn’t a problem with vagrancy. And why would a golf hole or a sandpit cause additional vagrancy? It doesn’t make sense, logically and financially.”

Brown said people camping on the property had been removed before, and that removing the landscaping was to prepare the land for future development.

“We tend to have to remove people from the property. We’ve done it multiple times, where they’ve moved in and camped out, trying to hover on the property,” Brown said. “We’re a little worried that someone would break into the building or the buildings, so we’re going to remove the buildings and make sure that we have no liability.”

Village Manager Dante Sawyer said in an email that Calumet Country Club’s golf would undoubtedly be missed. He said the village had had no specific public safety concerns about the property.

The most recent news regarding potential development of the parcel came last month, when Minnesota-based real estate development and management property Ryan Companies presented plans to develop the property to the Hazel Crest Village Board. Ryan Companies didn’t detail any specific plans, but representatives said they saw the most potential in industrial development.

A Ryan Companies spokesperson said the company had no new updates to share.

Varmecky said she and others at South Suburbs for Greenspace suspect the company won’t be following through on their interest.

“What we suspect is that Ryan Companies, after meeting with the board at Hazel Crest, never got back to Hazel Crest,” Varmecky said. “I think that they withdrew.”

Sawyer said the next step for a partnership between the company and the village would be a market study, which would gather information on potential development options and market conditions.

Brown said he had been talking to multiple companies interested in potentially developing the parcel, though he said he wasn’t aware of specific developments regarding Ryan Companies.

“We have five or six different groups talking to us, and we’ve said, ‘Go talk to the city and figure out whatever they want you to do,’” Brown said. “There’s multiple suitors out there that have expressed interest.”

elewis@chicagotribune.com