News Source: Crain's Cleveland Business

PARMA, Ohio - The biggest sports-related construction project taking place near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport isn’t in Brook Park.

It’s in Parma.

And to city residents, the new clubhouse at Ridgewood Golf Course is a very big deal.

“I’ve lived here my entire life and I rarely go somewhere where people aren’t asking me, ‘When are you starting construction? When will it be completed?’” Parma’s recreation department director, Mickey Vittardi said. “There’s a genuine excitement throughout the entire city and beyond.”

The city will hold the official groundbreaking for the $12.3 million project at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, although contractors have been working on site since Aug. 5. The event center was designed by American Structurepoint, with Albert M. Higley Co. serving as the construction manager-at-risk.

The new clubhouse will likely open in August or September of 2025, just ahead of the course’s 100-year anniversary in 2026. The 11,400-square-foot structure will include a new event center with a grill and bar/lounge area capable of hosting 180 people (or being divided into three smaller rooms), a patio, six golf simulator bays, a pro shop and a pavilion.

“This will be an economic driver for our city,” Vittardi said. “Golfers and non-golfers can use the facility for lunch and dinner, for entertainment out on the patio, or they can rent one of the three halls in the event center for baptisms, birthday parties and larger events. It’s a great project.”

Parma City Council voted to issue $14 million in bonds earlier this year for the project, and Cuyahoga County Council provided $4 million from its American Rescue Plan Act funding, according to the Parma Sun Post.

“That ($4 million) was a nice injection to get us started on the entire project,” service department director Tony Vannello said.

The course’s previous clubhouse was torn down in 2022. Ridgewood has used a triple-wide trailer over the past two years, yet the course managed to turn more than $200,000 in profit last year, Vittardi said. (The course has turned a profit every year since 2019.)

“I’ve been the recreation director for over 20 years and we’ve been on borrowed time, quite honestly, most of that time,” Vittardi said. “The building was just old and we did our best — and the employees did our best — to keep it as presentable as we could, but quite frankly with the building 100 years there were so many areas where, if we went to repair things, it was putting good money after bad.”

Both Vittardi and Vannello praised Ridgewood’s course superintendent, Tyler Good, for making numerous course upgrades during his 11-year tenure, from improving tee boxes and greens to upgrading the irrigation system. Officials are also looking to upgrade the cart paths.

"We're always polishing that diamond," Vannello said.

Those improvements help Ridgewood feel more like a private course — and the new clubhouse will only add to that vibe, Vittardi said.

“We have people playing the course now that haven’t played it in years and their response is consistently, ‘Wow, I don’t remember it this way,’” Vittardi said. “Ridgewood is a municipal golf course — it’s owned and operated by the city of Parma — but people find it hard to believe it’s a municipal golf course when they play it, and that’s because of the hard work of Tyler and his people.”