Housing Authority has vision for old Joliet Country Club

The Housing Authority of Joliet envisions a community that would combine the landscape of the now closed Joliet Country Club with affordable housing and amenities for future residents.

The project could suit neighbors and city officials who have resisted past plans to rezone the property for warehouses.

And, the HAJ vision could get a quick start towards reality from Congress if a requested $9.25 million is approved as part of a pending funding program.

“The master plan for the 147 acres would move much faster if everything lined up in the beginning,” HAJ Chairman Angel Contreras said Thursday.

HAJ’s interest in buying the former country club became apparent Thursday as Foster announced his requests for funding from the Community Projects Funding program, which is now in the House Appropriations Committee.

HAJ officials said they would pursue the project with or without the federal funding.

Contreras said the country club plan is an extension of similar projects done by HAJ “except on a higher scale.”

HAJ through its nonprofit development arm has developed the Liberty Meadow Estates and Water’s Edge subdivisions in Joliet.

“This is not just affordable housing,” Contreras said of the country club plan. “It’s bigger than that. It’s almost an entire community.”

HAJ Chief Executive Officer Michael Simelton said the plan is to take advantage of the golf course landscape and country club features to develop the community.

“It has some unique features,” Simelton said. “It has a new clubhouse. It has a swimming pool. It has ponds on the site. It has nice trees.”

Among HAJ plans for the site is a grocery store and other commercial development.

Megan Cooper, a neighbor of the country club and a leader in the opposition to converting it to an industrial park, said the HAJ plan sounds good so far.

“If they were to bring in the right type of housing, I’m game for it,” Cooper said. “We’re definitely not against commercial and retail. That could be a springboard to other types of development.”

Cooper and her neighbors have been making a case for more diversified economic development in an area that has seen an influx of warehouses.

“The country club could be the development that is the springboard to development on the south side of Joliet and make it something other than the warehouse jam-block that we have going on here,” said Robert Smith, who lives next to the old 10th hole of the golf course.

The Joliet Country Club dissolved in 2018 as the property was acquired by Lisle-based ROC Investment, which opened the golf course to the public in 2019 as the Joliet Golf Club. But the Joliet Golf Club only lasted a year, and ROC in 2020 made an unsuccessful attempt to get rezoning for industrial development from the city.

Representatives from ROC met with city officials a week or two ago to discuss potential residential development but had “no concrete proposals,” City Planner Jim Torri said.

ROC owner Michael Siurek said the developer is looking at options for the property and would consider a sale to HAJ at a fair price.

“Our intent is to get something moving at the city level that they could embrace,” Siurek said.