The long-anticipated transformation of the Peoria Park District’s Golf Learning Center into an interactive entertainment facility is now underway.
“Everything that's worth it is worth the wait, as they say,” park district executive director Emily Cahill said at Tuesday’s “non-traditional” groundbreaking ceremony that featured participants teeing off on the driving range instead of pushing shovels into the dirt.
Cahill noted the event came three years to the day since the $4.46 million construction project was first announced. She called it the recognition of “Step 1-A,” since interior demolition has already started.
Upgrades to the Radnor Road facility will feature a 21-bay, multi-level electronic driving range with the same “TopTracer” technology used by TopGolf locations.
State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, said the improvements will turn the learning center into a major “quality of life” attraction for the area.
“This will bring in people from all around the region, because we know that when the park district says, ‘We're going to do something,’ nobody does it better. This is going to be second to no other experience that folks have been able to take part in,” she said.
Other additions include an indoor golf simulation area, and a full-service restaurant and bar, in collaboration with Matt and Cortney Rixner of Fox Pub and former Bearded Owl Brewery owner Nick Babcock.
Gordon-Booth helped secure the bulk of the project funding through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
“Whenever I'm out and about somewhere else in the country and we experience something fun, I'm always of a mindset, ‘Why can't we have that in Peoria?’ Our community deserves nothing but the very best,” she said. “But the very best can oftentimes be costly, so we have to find ways to leverage resources and dollars to be able to create the vision for this community that we know is possible.”
Park district board president Robert Johnson said thinking of the modernization plan had him reflecting back more than a quarter-century.
“When we first built the Learning Center itself (in) 1997, it was a great experience to bring something like that to Peoria,” Johnson said. “Here we are again today, now we're getting ready to go even further.”
The board of trustees approved the bid from Peoria Metro Construction on June 26, followed on July 17 by a letter of intent for a food and beverage operator agreement.
“We are so honored and so blessed to have been even presented an opportunity to dream about this experience,” said Cortney Rixner, adding they are eager to engage diners with the sport of golf and to provide an experience that can be accessible to everyone.
“The most important thing for us is to provide a place where everybody is welcome. This should be a comfortable place where families can come, share a meal, an activity, and really share joy.”
The park district anticipates the new learning center facility will open in late spring of next year. During construction, the nine-hole skills course and the driving range will remain open, with limitations.
