BLOOMFIELD TWP., Mich. (WWJ) – Officials at Oakland Hills Country Club have announced plans to rebuild the clubhouse that was destroyed by a massive fire last week.
The historic, 100-year-old wooden clubhouse in Bloomfield Township was deemed a total loss after it became engulfed by flames on Thursday.
Officials are still working to determine what caused the disaster, but Monday was the first day investigators were really able to get back in on the site to formally start the evaluation process.
Oakland Hills President Rick Palmer, meeting with media members via Zoom on Monday, said the club plans to rebuild a replica of the clubhouse, which was believed to be the second largest wooden structure remaining in Michigan, behind only Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel.
In what will likely need to be a complete rebuild, the restoration could take up to two years, Palmer said.
Palmer did not have an estimate on the total cost of damages or how much the new project would cost.
“We have used the recent days to begin planning for solutions for things like what our golf event season will look like in 2022, as well as our plans for rebuilding and what all that entails,” Palmer said. “We are addressing how we’re going to help and support our staff, who have lost their places of work.”
Other events planned at the clubhouse will be rescheduled and moved to other facilities.
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While priceless golf memorabilia was lost in the devastation, Palmer says the quick thinking of first responders allowed for many of the historic belongings in the clubhouse to be saved.
“They kept going in and out of the facility and actually passed that out to our employees, who formed kind of a bread line and loaded that into the vans. A lot of our valuable items got recovered, but we’re just assessing whether or not they are OK and fully restored,” he said.
In the meantime, OHCC staff have moved to the Southfield offices of construction company Barton Malow and are administratively operational.