By Lesley Grimm
The Dyker Beach Golf Course isn’t just about golf anymore. The golf course is moving beyond greens and fairways, and will soon be in the business of hosting weddings, parties and corporate events. A new $6.5 million clubhouse is set to open at the site later this year, featuring a restaurant, banquet hall, catering kitchen and public meeting rooms. The expansion and renovation project is nearing completion, according to parks department and golf course officials. Representatives delivered the update at the March 11 meeting of the Dyker Heights Civic Association, held at the St Philip’s Episcopal Church hall at 1072 80th Street. “The idea was to increase access to the golf course to include people other than golfers,” said Anthony Macari, the project’s architect who works for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. “They are entering the final phase of construction and are scheduled to be completed sometime this summer,” Macari added, saying he expected the facility to open in July. The hall sits near 86th Street and 7th Avenue on the northern end of the 216-acre Dyker Beach Park and golf course. The park is bordered at its southern end by 14th Avenue, the Belt Parkway and Bay 8th Street. While the property is owned by the city’s parks department, the 18-hole golf course is managed by a private company called American Golf. American Golf will also run the new clubhouse through a leasing agreement with the city. Dyker Beach Golf Course General Manager Jeff DeFranco said the clubhouse would include two large and two smaller meeting rooms. The complex also features a 50-seat public restaurant. The banquet hall can sit up to 250 people, DeFranco said. “The building is not just for golfers. It’s for whoever wants to use the facility,” DeFranco said. “The building is meant to service the community. It is not private.” Speaking at the Dyker Heights meeting, parks officials also ended community speculation about the future of a popular dog run that sits adjacent to the catering hall site. Area dog lovers had feared the new catering hall could spell the end for the canine hangout, but parks department officials say the dog park will stay—although it will become somewhat smaller. “Right now the plan for the dog run is kind of a compromise,” architect Anthony Macari said. A crescent shaped planted “buffer zone” will separate the entrance to the clubhouse and the dog park. This landscaping will be about 100-feet deep and will be bordered by an iron fence. Macari said the new fence will be in roughly the same position as the temporary construction fence that has been erected in the park. “There’s still plenty of room still for the dog run,” Macari stressed. Dyker Heights resident Jo Ann DiMeglio expressed concern about parking and traffic, stating the corner of 86th Street and 7th Avenue was already congested. “How does that whole corner work when you have 200 people for a wedding?” DiMeglio asked. Jeff DeMarco responded by admitting that “nothing’s set in stone” but said the “basic plan” was to have guests drive up to the facility using a circular driveway and then have valets park vehicles at a lot at 86th Street and 11th Avenue. At the March 11 meeting, parks department and golf officials also fielded questions about the cleanliness of the Dyker Beach Park perimeter. American Golf and the city share responsibility for the upkeep. American Golf cleans the fence line around the golf course, whereas city agencies are responsible for the perimeter along 14th Avenue near the public ball fields, tennis courts and playgrounds. Dyker resident John Adesso complained that some sections of the perimeter were “filthy” and that the vicinity of 86th Street and 7th Avenue was “rat infested.” “You can see them running around. While people are sitting on the park benches, rats are running through their feet,” Adesso charged. A parks department representative said that the golf course was currently being baited for rats and that sanitation trucks clean the area “daily.” Charles Kloth, the parks department’s director of concessions, said his agency was committed to making sure “the perimeter stays as nice as the interior.” “If there’s a problem, then let us know,” Kloth said. American Golf’s Jeff DeFranco added, “We do our best to clean it up, but it is difficult.”
