Following years of discussion and debate, work has begun on the new clubhouse and parking lot at Beaver Meadow Golf Course.
In recent weeks, crews have poured the concrete foundation footings in preparation for the foundations of the walls. Work has also begun on the drainage retention site — a large area where water running off from impermeable surfaces will collect and soak into the ground — as well as trenching for drainage from the parking lot.
The $6 million project is slated to be done this winter or early next spring.
Construction on the new clubhouse is estimated to be complete in late winter/early spring of 2027. Once the new building opens, the existing building will be taken down and crews will perform some finished grading and landscape work. Everything is slated to be done by the summer of 2027.
The volunteer group Friends of the Beav has committed $250,000 over 10 years as its contribution to the clubhouse project, to be raised through various events and donations.
The new clubhouse features expanded concession and restaurant spaces, as well as room for indoor golf simulators, and it caters to a year-round crowd with a gear room for cross-country skiers. This year’s lingering heavy snows have given the latter activity a boost, along with the new snow gun purchased by the volunteer group “Ski the Beav,” making the golf course a hotbed of Nordic skiing.
The current clubhouse was built in 1967. Fans of the city-owned course talked about upgrading it or replacing it for years, generating long debate about priorities for city spending.
The City Council had considered an $8 million, 10,000-square-foot clubhouse until the project was cut back in response to public criticism last year. The new building will be 6,000 square feet.
