DETROIT — Oakland Hills Country Club continues to have discussions with its insurance provider, but club President Rick Palmer said Monday the membership is operating on the belief that the historic clubhouse is a "total loss" following last week's massive fire.
Palmer said the likely complete rebuild would take at least two years and would replicate the white, stately, pillared clubhouse that opened 100 years ago. He had no estimate on cost, but said the membership believes it was fully insured.
"We are confident about our future," Palmer said in a Zoom news conference with local and national reporters Monday morning. He added the club is confident it will "come back stronger than ever."
A fire started Thursday morning in attic space of the two-story (plus basement) clubhouse and quickly spread throughout much of the 90,000-square-foot facility. Flames several feet high burned for several hours, and firefighters from several area departments battled them well into Friday and into the weekend.
A cause still has not been determined, and the investigation remains ongoing, led by the Bloomfield Township fire department and chief John LeRoy.
About 25 Oakland Hills workers were in the building or on the grounds when the fire broke out, plus a contractor overseeing a veranda construction project, Palmer said. Nobody was injured. That would've been a real tragedy, Palmer said.
"What happened at Oakland Hills was very devastating, emotionally," he said. "But tragedies are Oxford schools and COVID-19. We lost things."
Firefighters and club officials were able to save some artifacts and memorabilia before the fire fully raged, including the contents of the prized trophy case that sits just through the clubhouse's front doors. Palmer said there's no full inventory of what was salvaged and what wasn't, nor any determination of which of the items that were saved will still have to be restored.
Club officials now are working out of Barton Malow's Southfield offices, and are assessing what temporary structures can be created to get the membership through the next couple assistance. The United States Golf Association, which recently awarded Oakland Hills the 2031 and 2042 U.S. Women's Open and has Oakland Hills on the short list to soon host another U.S. Open, has offered the club assistance on building temporary structures like it does for its major championships.
Several area country clubs have reached out to Oakland Hills and offered their dining and social facilities, Palmer said, and a fund has been established to help the workers who will be displaced by the clubhouse loss. During peak golf season, Oakland Hills has about 300 employees.
"I can't single one (club) out because they've all been great," Palmer said.
He said the club is working with other facilities on moving big events, like banquets and weddings, that won't be able to take place at Oakland Hills for at least the next two years.
