What will replace GE golf course?
Developers who want to convert a closed Springdale golf course into an industrial park are waiting for City Council’s blessing to move forward with plans and begin identifying the site’s first tenants.
Madisonville-based Vandercar Holdings wants to develop the Tri-County Commerce Park on the former 110-acre site of the Hidden Creek Park Golf Course along Princeton-Glendale and Crescentville roads.
The golf course, owned by the General Electric Employees Activities Association, closed Labor Day after operating for 51 years. The site also had a recreation center and picnic areas. The course is one of the amenities around the nearby Crossings, a 69-unit condominium community built more than a decade ago.
New industrial buildings are popping up around the region to meet the demands of tenants seeking newer or updated spaces for their operations. Vacancy rates for industrial space have fallen steadily in the years following the Great Recession, according to commercial real estate brokerage firms. The Tri-County submarket, which includes Springdale, but also West Chester Township, had a vacancy rate of 5.1 percent in the second quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
In early September, the Springdale Planning Commission approved Vandercar's concept plan for the site. The plan, which still needs City Council approval, had to be retooled after the panel voted down plans in April that called for larger buildings, smaller distances from the development to nearby residential areas and outdoor storage of materials.
Vandercar was working with Ferguson, a supplier of bath, kitchen, appliance and lighting products that primarily serves contractors, to move its operation from Sharonville to the Springdale site. But the move stalled with the city's rejection of the first plan, partly out of concerns about potential truck traffic to and from the building supply company.
The first two buildings are expected to be about 374,400 square feet of space, which would be about 15 percent less space than under the initial plan. The site could feature as many as nine buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet of space. Streetscape improvements are planned along Crescentville and Princeton-Glendale roads and on interior streets planned.
"We believe it offers an opportunity for the best redevelopment," said Steve Dragon, a vice president at Vandercar.
City Council could approve the concept plan at its Oct. 21 meeting. The city has to approve a zoning change for the site to become a planned development district. Final development plans would have to be confirmed before any construction can take place.
"This isn't my first choice, but there could be things that are worse," said Tom Vanover, president of City Council during the Sept. 8 Springdale Planning Commission meeting.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to send the project to City Council. Don Darby, chair of the Springdale Planning Commission, said Vandercar has been responsive in answering questions from residents and the city. He described the updated Vandercar plan as "something for this time, for this city, for that location, which is workable."
City officials said they could approve restrictions that would prevent certain types of businesses from operating at the site such as those using chemical or biologic processes that could human health. Residents also raised concerns about how trucks would effect traffic
Rising management costs and declines in player visits are among the reasons why Greater Cincinnati has seen a rash of golf course closures in the last few years. Manager Gene Neff said the golf course hasn't been profitable for several years and it has been hard to lay off the dedicated employees that have run the operation for years.
Neff said the golf course has significant debt and despite the organization's name, General Electric Co., wasn't going to bail the park out. Help wasn't coming from the city either, according to several city leaders.
Vandercar Holdings' leader Rob Smyjunas said a real estate broker called him about acquiring a piece of the property, but he later decided to make an offer on the entire property. He was able to get a meeting with course’s board of directors and they decided to move forward with the offer. Vandercar officials declined to disclose the contract price to buy the property from the association.
Smyjunas said developing new industrial space is needed in the Springdale market and the location is attractive because of its proximity to Interstate 275.
From the city's perspective, more people working in Springdale means more people paying earnings tax and supporting nearby venues such as Tri-County Mall, according to city officials.
About 50 people attended the Sept. 8 meeting to hear the developer's updated plan. Most people who attended spoke in support of the development.
That wasn't the case earlier this year. A group of residents, many who lived in a subdivision near the golf course, rallied to oppose the industrial park conversion.
While some people living near the proposed project describe it as a necessary part of the site's evolution, Springdale resident Bob Hart has a different word for it: "tragic."
Hart said his family moved to Springdale from Detroit in 1987 after working for Ford Motor Co. He recalls asking a neighbor after he moved in the closest golf course he could play. Finding the GE association's course brought him years of playing golf and taking leisurely strolls through the park.
Hart has tried to rally neighbors to get the industrial plan stalled or cancelled. He wrote a letter to Jeff Immelt, GE chief executive and Finneytown High School graduate, to voice his frustrations.
“For that green space to become asphalt and buildings when less than 100 feet away there’s an empty Avon complex, that’s the last thing this area needs,” he said. “People on the planning commission are looking at it myopically when looking at possible revenue for Springdale.”