Major renovations to Cranberry Highlands Golf Course Clubhouse put on hold
Cranberry Township officials will forego major renovations to the Cranberry Highlands Golf Course Clubhouse, citing significant cost concerns.
Supervisors had originally organized plans to upgrade several areas of the facility, including the clubhouse’s roof, banquet hall and outdoor patio space.
“We were hoping for bids to come in a little closer to $2 million or $2.2 million. They came in at over $3.2 million,” said Dan Santoro, township manager. “That’s a pretty big swing. When we looked at it every which way, it just really doesn’t make sense at this point in time.”
Santoro, however, noted that officials will move forward with “necessary maintenance” in the coming months, which includes repairing the roof and taking care of some plumbing issues.
An initial authorization to bid on the renovation work was approved at an Oct. 3 meeting. While vice chairman Bruce Hezlep and Karen Newpol were absent from Thursday’s meeting, chairman Mike Manipole, Bruce Mazzoni and John Skorupan officially voted to reject bids for a general contractor as well as plumbing, electrical and HVAC work.
Township officials had previously conducted a golf course master plan about two years ago to determine what needed to be done at the 14,000-square-foot clubhouse.
While the major renovations to the structure were put on hold for now, it does not mean that they will not take place at some point, according to Santoro.
“Some of the other things we were going to do, we’re just going to postpone for now,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t revisit it in a couple of years or something like that.”
The clubhouse was originally built more than two decades ago to serve the municipal course, which has grown into one of the township’s most popular public attractions. More than 30,000 rounds of golf are played each year at Cranberry Highlands, officials said.
