WYOMING, Mich. — Once approved for a large housing project, a massive Wyoming property sees a significant change.
One of The Pines Golf Course owners explained two years ago that it would be the end of an era for the 18-hole course.
FOX 17 has learned that the owners have decided to keep the course open permanently.
"I had to, like, tell everybody to come on out next year and play golf," The Pines Golf Course Owner Ron Zandbergen said. "We had people saying, 'Well, this is our last time we're going to go off because you're closing.' So the story didn't get out there as well as what we wanted to do."
The Pines Golf Course opened in 1967 as a family-run business and continues to this day.
"It was family-owned all the time and by my wife's mother and her two uncles," Zandbergen added.
The city of Wyoming approved rezoning the course to allow this to go from single-family housing to multifamily homes back in the summer of 2022.
The developers of Redhawk Multifamily had plans to develop 600 new housing units, 7,500 square feet of retail space, 22,000 square feet of office space, and a green space on the property.
"I was sad. I was kind of bummed for my kids because I have all those good memories."
Deborah Vance lives in the neighborhood near the golf course in her childhood home.
"As a kid, we played over there for sure; we'd slide on the hills and stuff in the winter; my sister fell into the pond because she thought it was frozen, and it wasn't," Vance said.
In October 2023, FOX 17 learned that the developer looked to start the project in 2025. We have now learned that a month later, the owners started to rethink their selling decision.
"November 1 (2023) came; they didn't close and so we told them, 'Go away. We're going to keep the golf course.' They still wanted it, but they wanted to wait another year to give us the money."
Redhawk Multifamily told FOX 17 that its banking partners had concerns about the appraisal evaluation.
"We were very disappointed that we were not able to receive a short extension to make some minor site plan adjustments - the Sellers are a great family and we just had to accept their sentimental desire to keep the golf course open. If they change their mind - we hope to work with them again."
Zandbergen explains the course is closed for the season but they're now focusing on their approach to the next five years.
"We're thinking of a new pro shop and maybe a venue. We just don't know what we're going to do yet, but definitely keeping a golf course. We've repainted this pro shop, and we've also bought a lot more new equipment because we let it go for two years, but now we're getting back in shape," Zandbergen added.
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