Daniel Kotowitz and his family have had an ownership stake in the 200-acre property at 866 Shaker Road on the southern edge of the city since the 1960s.
WESTFIELD – A financing deal is in place and the ownership picture has solidified at Shaker Farms Country Club ensuring its future as a golf course, new co-owner Nancy J. Kotowitz announced this week.
Her husband, Daniel P. Kotowitz, and his family have had an ownership stake in the 200-acre property at 866 Shaker Road on the southern edge of the city since the 1960s, Nancy J. Kotowitz said. But she said over the years ownership had passed to a number of people, all with differing visions for the business. The end result was that the property was nearly foreclosed upon and sold at action two years ago.
“What happened was the families couldn’t decide what to do,” she said.
There were plans at one time to develop the land, something she and her husband were against.
This week, Kotowitz and her husband became majority owners with Ellen Clark and Constance Friend as silent-partner minority owners, Nancy Kotowitz said.
Nancy Kotowitz wouldn’t put an exact dollar amount on the deal, but she said the refinancing was just less than $2 million.
She thanked the U.S. Small Business Administration, an agency that secures business loans, and SCORE, an organization that provides business veterans as volunteer mentors to small businesses along with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Network Western Regional Office in Springfield. She also thanked Granite State Development Corp., Farm Credit, which makes business loans in rural communities, as well as First Niagara Bank and Hampden Bank.
The course has about three employees in the off-season and 42 in the summer. The course was built in 1954. The property includes 200 acres. Of that, the 18-hole golf course covers about 105 acres. They have about 150 members and also allow golfing by the general public.
According to the City of Westfield, the portions of the property in Westfield are assessed at $853,425. The town of Southwick said the property in Southwick is assessed at $85,200.
Kotowitz said she settled the back taxes in Southwick at closing.
For many years, the old ownership group rented out the course to various operators with mixed results.
“The course wasn’t cared for,” she said. “You have to take care of things. You have to do crabgrass control. When I came here two years ago there was no grass on the sixth hole.”
She said the recession has been tough on golf courses and Shaker Farms, but she’s been assured that once the public learns that Shaker Farms is now well cared for, golfers will return.