In the chilled interior of this 76,000-square-foot clubhouse, visitors who trod the plush carpets, admire the bottles of Dom Perignon displayed at the cherry-wood bar or dry their hands with monogrammed paper towels in the marble bathrooms may feel like they’ve stepped inside a posh Florida golf resort.
But this chalet-on-steroids is in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, part of the $36 million Bolingbrook Golf Club. Some residents call it the “Rog Mahal” — a reference to longtime Mayor Roger Claar, who championed the project, which also includes a village-owned “luxury” subdivision.
It’s a public amenity that some view as a sign of Bolingbrook’s success in transforming itself over the last three decades into a thriving business hub. But the golf course hasn’t made money since opening April 25, 2002, losing $1.3 million a year on average, and the luxury subdivision is at least $2 million in the hole, according to a Tribune review of village and Will County records.
Claar and village officials defend their decision to become the rare town directly involved in the high-end home business.
“If the housing market wouldn’t have broken, you wouldn’t be asking these questions,” Claar said. “Is my crystal ball better than yours? Probably not. But it will come back because the housing market will come back.”
Claar also said he doesn’t regret building the golf course or lavish clubhouse, where diners in the upscale restaurant can order the $10 “Mayor’s Platter” salad (two scoops of tuna salad and sliced tomatoes over lettuce).
“It takes capital and cojones,” Claar told Golfweek magazine in a 2007 story on the golf course. “If I listened to my advisers, we’d still be talking about it.”
Claar has said he picked out most of the colors used in and outside the clubhouse, as well as the exterior stone.
The village has spent at least $9 million propping up the golf course — more than Bolingbrook took in last year in state income taxes (its second largest revenue source), developer contributions and building permits combined, according to financial records.
Residents pay $78 to play 18 holes at the award-winning course on weekends, some of the highest public-course fees in the area. Non-residents pay $110.
Claar disputes the buzz among critics that the clubhouse is his personal retreat, saying he’s there about 10 times a year.
“It’s provided an amenity that thousands of people have enjoyed,” Claar said, listing the events hosted there. “Those things always had to go out of town before.”
It’s been four years since Bolingbrook sold a lot in Americana Estates, the adjoining high-end subdivision where streets are named after U.S. presidents and the logo is an eagle clutching a golf club in each talon. Fewer than half of the total lots have been sold.
Village officials describe Americana Estates and the golf course — projects they say lifted the town’s profile — as a logical addition toBolingbrook’s storm-water management plan. Land covenants ensure that even if the golf course were to close, the property would remain open space, officials said. And one section of the 551 acres known as the Farnham property, where a round barn stands, was set aside for use as an agricultural museum.
But the storm-water project cost about $11 million to build — a fifth of what the golf course and subdivision cost — and officials hope to eventually be repaid by charging fees to developers.
The entire project began in the mid-1990s, when Bolingbrook leaders decided to buy up flood-plain land along the southwest section of Lily Cache Creek, which runs horizontally through the town, draining southwest, and build a series of seven “lakes” to bolster the storm-water management system, said Mike Drey, the village’s director of public works and engineering.
“We ended up with a solution to the storm-water [issue], and the land owners ended up with more property that was developable,” Drey said.
As for Americana Estates, Claar said it’s a victim of the housing bubble.
The town first tried to sell the extra acres to developers, but they wanted to build less expensive homes, he said, while Bolingbrookbelieved high-end housing would “stimulate additional economic growth, which it has done.”
“You can see that all over western Bolingbrook, not just Americana Estates,” said Claar, whose Jaguar has the vanity plate “BB First.” “It’s given us one of the top ZIP codes in Chicago.”
As an incentive for builders or investors to buy lots, the village offered short-term, interest-free loans of $108,000, according to records. In almost every case, the money was repaid, but two homes that have gone into foreclosure in the last three years left Bolingbrookholding the bag, records show.
Residents who live in Americana Estates said they like the subdivision; it’s quiet, and the weeds on empty lots are kept mowed. But some are concerned about property values.
“That’s one of the concerns we have — that there are no people coming in,” said Genesis Alfeche, 46, who bought a home in the subdivision in 2006 that remains surrounded by empty lots. “For us, this really is our investment. We were thinking they will build out the whole thing in probably five or six years and we could downsize.”
“Not sure how this community will grow if things like this continue,” another resident wrote Claar in a 2007 e-mail, noting that one home’s furnishings — including the front door — had been stripped and sold by a beleaguered home builder. “Good luck to all of us who thoughtAmericana Estates was to be something special.”
Alfeche likes living in Americana Estates but would like a bit more for his $1,000 annual homeowner’s fees. He wishes Bolingbrookwould do more to promote the subdivision and noted that the development’s lighthouse-shaped guardhouse has always stood empty.
All in all — even after deducting the property sales and other income Bolingbrook has received from the subdivision and golf course — the village has sunk more than $60 million into the two projects, which were financed with bonds, adding to the town’s $200 million debt load.
“We didn’t intend to get into the home business,” said Village Atty. James Boan. “We had surplus land and had to put it back on the tax rolls. Americana Estates lots will be sold; the village will reclaim the money there.”
Claar notes that despite any controversy he has continued to win elections since the project was launched. But a vocal minority remains displeased with Bolingbrook Golf Club.
“Bolingbrook residents don’t go there,” said Bonnie Kurowski-Alicea, who unsuccessfully ran against Claar as a write-in candidate this spring. “It’s overdone, it’s overpriced — you can go to Naperville and golf for half the price.”
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