Will All North and Central Country Club Restaurants and Pools Eventually Be Closed?
 

I noticed this morning that the Hacienda Hills Country Club restaurant and pool are now closed and that demolition may begin today. Links led me to the information that the Tierra del Sol restaurant and pool were due to be demolished in 2013, but I hear that it was rebuilt instead. Also Chula Vista, Silver Lake, and other clubs, I hear, were changed. (Excuse me if any of this info is wrong.) Will this continue? The reason seems to be that they aren’t getting enough business and/or that they need expensive repairs. Buildings are being town down when they are fifteen years old, and we are told that they are at the end of their life expectancy.

I understand how economics work and that there are costs that have to be covered. I’m sure the Developer’s staff has run the numbers and knows that these restaurants are (were) costing more to run than they are (were) bringing in. That doesn’t make good business sense. I suppose the availability of many restaurants on the outskirts of The Villages have hurt business at the country clubs. Many people want to spend less on meals or like eating at chain restaurants, and those restaurants also bring in more business from outside The Villages, which is crucial to making a profit.

What do you think? Will ALL of the country club restaurants and pools eventually close? Will “Country Club” just mean golf courses and various other sports? Will the southern country clubs be built without restaurants and pools? Will it no longer be possible to go from the golf or tennis court to the bar or restaurant for a drink or lunch? Will players have to get into their cars or carts and drive twenty minutes or more to some restaurant where they and their pals will hope they can sit together? That certainly changes the usual idea and ideal of a country club. Perhaps the ones with the least business will be closed until the busiest get even busier and eventually make a decent profit.

Also, what is with this idea that a building is ready to be torn down in fifteen years? My home is stick-built, like the country clubs, and it is twenty-two years old. I think it is in great condition. What makes the difference? Will my house need to be torn down soon? Were the country clubs built from the beginning with a lower quality of construction than the houses?

Would it work for the country club restaurants to be leased to popular chain restaurants, or would that bring in too many outsiders and again change the idea of the more exclusive country club?

Tierra del Sol pool and restaurant were never demolished. They were changed and remodeled.

There are not any Country Clubs in The Villages. There are restaurants adjacent to golf courses. Some restaurants, not all, have pool close to them. You have to pay a yearly fee to use them. Lopez Legacy restaurant was guttednand redone beautifully several years ago as well as Tierra del Sol. Glenview was turned over last year and had a thorough deep cleaning. Hacienda's restaurant was dirty and the kitchen was a disaster. Nobody was looking to invest millions into an old building that was in terrible shape.

Hmmm. Semantics I guess.

Will be the end of my priority membership after 11 years! Sad, as I did enjoy the small perks associated w/prority membership!

What makes anyone think TV has country clubs. Get real !!!

Does anyone know what will be put in place at Hacienda?

Country club
noun

A club, usually in suburban districts, with clubhouse and grounds, pro shop and restaurant, offering various activities such as golf, tennis, and swimming.

Country Clubs can be private or open to the public. Some are both and called Semi Private.

Because they are called County Clubs. :shrug:


Definition of country club
: a suburban club for social life and recreation especially : one having a golf course




:popcorn:

I am surprised that people are “surprised” the building is being taken down. It has been posted on this site and others that this building was in bad shape and no one was willing to take on the expense of rehab. Thankfully the AAC was one of the groups that passed on taking over this building.

We can hope something will take this buildings place. But I would not bet on a country club with a pool and restaurant. That does not seem to be the current model.

The first populated areas in The Villages probably has the most older inhabitants. Many of us have no idea why we got older and would rather stay home and eat and many don't play golf as much and many either drink a lot more or have quit.

I think that the developers are doing what they can with their form of "urban renewal" by buying well priced modular homes in the historic areas, removing them and then building site built homes on their lot and selling them for reasonable prices.

I don't think anyone can stop the march of time and changes but I believe that The Villages is the least touched by urban dinge that comes with time. We seem to have attracted a lot of people who enjoy and take pride in their homes and yards and either personally see to it that it stays nice or hires someone to keep it nice.

The Country Clubs and restaurants, owned and rented out by the developers must depend on patrons to spend their money. Some restaurants aren't very well patronized for a lot of reasons and that is how the free market works. It is a tough business to maintain a restaurant with three months of high population and nine months of far less population. What do you do with staff in the off season?

Not an easy dilemma for all of Florida's restaurants and made worse by the justifiable fear brought by the pandemic.

I have watched as restaurants changed renters and some are not as good as they once were and many are run by just a couple of owners. I don't know, but we as a group are careful critics of food.

From an unimpeachable source (random lady at the golf course): They're going to build a new Katie Belle's.

I think 99% of your gloom and doom will never happen........................

Too bad that the developer doesn’t respect the residents enough to have common courtesy to let us know the plan. JMO

You asked a ton of questions but gave no answers. So, what do you think? I realize the questions had nothing positive, but don't want to assume your answers are all negative as well.