University of Iowa plans to close University Club next year

For more than half a century the University Club — previously known as the University Athletic Club — has served as the host site for Rotary meetings, tailgating parties, university lectures, visits by presidential hopefuls, wedding receptions and other life-changing celebrations.

Club members, however, received a letter last week from University of Iowa administrators notifying them that the club will come to an end Sept. 4, 2018, because of "future redevelopment of the area."

“Over the next 15 months, the University Club will honor your membership and events, and continue to provide great programs, special dinners, holiday functions, and private restaurant service. We look forward to this final year with you,” read the letter, dated June 7 and co-signed Rod Lehnertz, UI’s senior vice president for finance and operations, and Tom Rocklin, UI’s outgoing vice president for student life.

Elaine Himadi, who has been a member for about five years, said she and other members are upset about the closure as well as about the way they were notified.

“This came as a shock,” she said.

An official for University Heights, the city where the club property is located, described the club as "a cherished part of our community for 50-plus years."

“It will be sad to see it go,” said Mike Haverkamp, a member of the University Heights City Council. "We had been members, and our kids swam there. ... But the university now has a great opportunity to enhance the western face of the campus, and I think that will reflect well on our community as well.”

Members had received a letter three months earlier warning them of possible changes to the University Club.

In that earlier letter, dated Feb. 20, the club’s general manager, Bobbi Houselog, explained how the UI Department of Athletics had been “studying the feasibility of building a new club house on or adjacent to the site of the current club house.” As part of the planning process, she said, the consultants were asked to consider possible future uses of the University Club site in the master plan.

“To consider future uses of the University Club site in planning does not constitute a commitment to development,” Houselog wrote in the letter. “At this time, we have no plans to change the operation of the University Club or its affiliated programs.”

When contacted Wednesday by the Press-Citizen, Houselog said she did not know what the future plans were for the site, and she directed all questions to Lehnertz's office.

Lehnertz said UI officials are studying potential uses of the surrounding site and will share more information with the regents during the board's August meeting.

"We look forward to providing more details at that time," he said via email.

The former University Athletic Club — which is adjacent to the UI-owned Finkbine Golf Course — had been in private hands until about nine years ago.

After the flood of 2008, the UI Facilities Corp. purchased the University Athletic Club for $6.525 million -- which included $5.775 million for real property and $750,000 for club assets, according to regent documents.

The university signed a long-term lease with its facilities corporation to use the property to accommodate events that previously would have been held in the then flood-damaged Iowa Memorial Union.

At the time of purchase, the property included a building with 17,053 square feet of main floor and 16,253 square feet of rear entrance “walk-out” space. It also featured dining and event facilities, a recreational swimming pool, three tennis courts, and a basketball court, according to regent documents.

UI officials told the Iowa Board of Regents in 2008 that permanently relocating some IMU operations to the new University Club “would allow reallocation of space on the first floor of the IMU to student services and would allow critical building systems to be relocated from the sub-basement in the IMU to higher locations.”

The flooded sections of the IMU reopened in 2015.

UI officials received permission from the regents last fall to move forward with plans to replace the clubhouse and support facility on the Finkbine Golf Course.

The replacement facility would be about 20,000 gross square feet on two levels, according to regent documents. The $10 million project would be funded by Athletics Department gifts, and no state appropriations would be used.

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffCharis.