Details are pending, but new ownership is officially coming to the Emporia Country Club.
Investor Jerid Thomas has confirmed the group known as Emporia Community Club LLC has gained the Country Club Board’s unanimous approval to purchase the facilities at 1801 Rural. Country Club Board President Steve Neill has said closing could take place Feb. 1, but Thomas says the investor group is targeting sometime next month. The sale amount has not been divulged, Thomas tells KVOE News, because of unlisted variables that could change the final total.
In a statement, Thomas says progress is already underway to improve facilities, although no details have been announced. Thomas says the goal of those improvements is to offer more opportunities for business meetings, community events, birthday parties, weddings and other activities as a way to make the Country Club more accessible to the community. The investor group plans to add staff for both the restaurant and banquet facilities.
Conversations are also underway with Emporia city leadership, the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas and unspecified facility designers to investigate possible external funding resources as a way to “drastically improve the functionality…into a world-class, multi-sport facility.” Thomas says this part of the process is in the early stages and will pick up speed early next year. More details will be announced as those plans develop.
The Country Club’s original golf course was finished in 1915 after the charter was approved in 1911 and the clubhouse was built in 1912. Besides a 9-hole golf course and clubhouse, the Country Club also consists of a disc golf course, dining facilities and banquet rooms, an outdoor swimming pool and outdoor pickleball court.
