For over 85 years, the northeast corner of the bustling Cedar and Richmond Roads intersection has been home to the private Acacia Country Club. Located in Lyndhurst, Acacia is just across the Beachwood border. According to the club’s website, the likes of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Babe Ruth and Arnold Palmer have played their golf course.
However, in recent years the club membership has been dwindling.
In 2007 Acacia had about 160 members. In 2012, membership was half of that.
After being up for sale for several years, the club has finally reached an agreement with a non-profit organization, The Conservation Fund.
Matt Sexton, a Senior Vice President of Real Estate for the fund, is highly enthusiastic about the sale. What intrigued Sexton and his partners about the Acacia property was the Euclid Creek Watershed running through the course and how close the property came to being developed.
The Acacia property was sold to the fund for $14.75 million. Currently there is a plan in place to turn the property into a “public-use park” with the clubhouse facilities to serve as a welcome center, available for leasing to the public for weddings, parties and other events. The Acacia property’s 155 acres will serve as open green space for all of the community, including high school students.
“I think the overwhelming response [of the Acacia sale] has been positive,” said Sexton, a Cleveland-area native.
Sexton added that he has received several positive emails and phone calls regarding the sale of the club. He also said that there was a recent online poll prompting readers to choose whether they preferred the Acacia property to be developed or remain open space. According to Sexton, over eighty percent preferred the open-space project.
In addition to sale of the club to The Conservation Fund, it has been announced that the Cleveland Metroparks will control and maintain the property, adding it to the organization’s park portfolio of over 22,000 acres.
“We’re really looking to restore the natural state of the property,” said Brian Zimmerman, Executive Director of the Cleveland Metroparks.
Although many community members requested for the golf course to stay intact, Zimmerman said it is simply not possible.
“The deed restrictions do not allow it to remain a golf course,” explained Zimmerman.
What the property will be named in its post-country club life is currently unknown.
However, Zimmerman did state that the Acacia property will eventually look like and have similar amenities to the North and South Chagrin Reservations, which are also under the Cleveland Metroparks’ umbrella of properties.
However, not everyone is as excited about the project as Sexton and Zimmerman.
Patrick Ward, the Ward 4 Lyndhurst City Councilman, said “[I was] disappointed that the property was being sold to a non-profit because… the property’s potential [for development and tax revenue] is gone.”
Additionally, Councilman Ward stated that Acacia Country Club was a source of $250,000 in property taxes annually. About $37,500 of this amount went toward the City of Lyndhurst, $180,000 went to the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District, and the remainder went to the county, the parks, and other entities. Ward was very disappointed that the school district would lose their cut of Acacia property taxes.
“No one wants another shopping center, period,” said Ward, when asked if his constituents would have wanted to see the property remain green or become developed into retail space.
Ward explained that if Acacia had accepted the City of Lyndhurst’s offer to buy the club, “most of the property would have been devoted toward residential housing” and that a major retail complex was never even a blip on their radar screen, as far as development proposals went.
Ward also stated that the Lyndhurst mayor and City Council have “never had a conversation with the new property owners. They never returned any of our mayor’s telephone calls.”*
Despite initial reports that the club would remain open for one more year, Sexton said that Acacia Country Club will officially cease operations in late Dec. 2012, when the keys will be turned over to The Cleveland Metroparks.
Charles Longo, Acacia’s Club Board President, was pleased with the sale.
“The members, given the fact that there wasn’t much choice under the circumstances, are very happy [with the sale],” said Longo.
“There haven’t been any serious objections voiced [against the sale],” said Longo. However, Longo added that several members expressed concern with the club’s sale price.
As far as a last hurrah for the historic club, Longo says that plans are currently underway by a club committee. The club is selling in response to membership attrition and the poor economic times.
“[I would estimate] that about sixty to seventy percent of the members will move to another club of their choosing,” said Longo. “The demographics of Cleveland are such that it is difficult to attract members to a country club.”
*After the release of this article, Sexton clarified this statement, stating “I did return the Mayor’s call while I was on vacation the end of July and left him a voice mail, but we never did connect before the City became a competing buyer.”
