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Fellow Member,
Hopefully by now many of you have enjoyed a meal, or perhaps a drink, in the newly-christened Semloh Room. As I mentioned in my remarks during the Opening Reception, the inspiration for the space’s new name is based on our historical recognition of the Club’s original setting and purpose. As we embark further on The Stanwich Club’s second fifty years, it is fitting to celebrate the history and traditions that have made us the envy of many Met-area clubs.
The design of the Semloh Room was deliberately intended to afford both casual and sophisticated ambiances - serving as a pub during the daylight hours, while transforming into more of a bistro at night. It’s important to note that both themes incorporate the same goal – to offer attractive congregational space for optimal membership enjoyment. I would like to offer my thanks to Stephanie Wall (House Chair) and her Committee for all of their hard work & attention to detail.
While I am on the subject of congregational spaces and membership enjoyment, let me turn to the next object of our attention – the Patio. As you may recall, the most pressing mandate which resulted from the 2014 Club Survey was to address the F&B situation on two levels – menu quality and variety, and venue enhancement. Our Patio, with its million-dollar view corridor, is unquestionably our most popular dining venue. Sadly, the aging infrastructure (e.g. crumbling stucco, leaky awning, inadequate lighting, etc.) has deteriorated beyond cosmetic repair usefulness.
The Patio Committee (Stephanie & Scott Wall, Michelle & Ed Howe, Laura Said, Evan Burchell, Bob Stone, and myself) first met some 12 months ago. During that time, we interviewed architects, design firms, landscape consultants, and the like. We personally visited recently-completed projects at the following clubs – Wee Burn, Round Hill, Burning Tree, Riverside Yacht Club, Milbrook, Greenwich CC, and Sleepy Hollow, among others. It became apparent to us that, in order to best serve your current Club constituency whilst continuing to attract like-minded new members, investing in new infrastructure with a contemporary lifestyle in mind scored the highest marks. With that goal in mind, we embarked on a series of meetings trying to best marry the Stanwich ‘canvas’ with an exceptional outdoor F&B venue. After extensive deliberations, we recently presented our suggestions to the Board of Directors.
Board discussions, in turn, have focused on how to best provide a useful and lasting solution. At the April Board meeting, your Directors took the first step by unanimously supporting the appropriation of funding to draw up construction documents, obtain cost estimates, and put in place plans for a Special Meeting of the Membership to seek final approval.
Obviously, with any project of significant scale, the membership must be suitably informed as to the scope and details of said project, and ultimately vote, in favor of, or opposition to, the proposed plans. Bearing all of this in mind, please recognize the possibility that building plans can sometimes get bogged down during the regulatory review process. With a targeted opening date of next Spring, time quickly becomes of the essence. I will leave it to our Treasurer, Dave Christie, to discuss our preliminary thinking for financing this project.
If you are anything like me, you probably derive a better understanding of spatial potential when viewing three-dimensional, full-color renderings as opposed to black & white architectural drawings. To that end, we have provided five such renderings as an attachment to this mailing (the 36” x 48” originals are far more suitable for viewing and will be on clubhouse display shortly). Architect Jim Rogers, armed with the afore-mentioned architectural plans, will be available to address the general membership, as well as answer any questions at a date to be announced over the next few weeks.
Before you look at the drawings, allow me as a means of introduction, to point out some of the new & improved changes we anticipate…
Most significantly, we have introduced a partial hard-roof component. This will better shield us during periods of inclement weather, while also enabling us to organically provide the framing for retractable, transparent panels. This feature, when combined with radiant-heated flooring, will allow us the luxury of extending the shoulder-seasons of outdoor dining in addition to providing greater versatility with special events (e.g. Christmas Holiday Party) and private outings. A supplemental benefit to a hard-roof is the ability it affords us in providing an opportunity for second-level viewing and congregational space. Our current intention would be to serve Members pre and post-dinner cocktails only, while restricting food service to first-floor venues. Once again, however, this new introduction of space permits us to be as creative as our future needs dictate. By necessity, the Mens Locker Room windows would be frosted, and by code, two modes of egress would be required.
(I should also point out that our artist (see first slide) could quite possibly be labeled a closet pyromaniac, as he shows three fire elements on the second level. In fact, there is only one fire element on the second level – that being the fireplace situated on the current Dining Room wall. Similarly, there is no railing extending out over the Dining Room and beyond).
Next, I would like to direct your attention to the new awning. The Committee felt strongly that an awning provides a ‘classic’ Northeastern touch, and is very pleasing to the eye as you approach the Clubhouse from the 18th fairway. It is equally important to note that as you enter the Patio from the Clubhouse, the space will take on a much brighter and airy look than it had in the past. This is due to several factors – the hard roof will be flat and painted bright white. This contrasts with a significantly-pitched awning that had been uniformly dark green. A smaller awning component, consisting of alternating white and green striping, will allow for the introduction of more natural light.
In the slide entitled “Contextual Aerial View”, you will notice a cleaner, smoother transition from the Patio bluestone onto the lawn behind #18 green. As the grade dictates, a stone knee-wall will be erected to protect an enhanced Lower Terrace, and lower still, a Fire Pit with comfortable surround-seating. What you may not have picked up on is the absence of the two accessibility ramps – these have been rendered unnecessary since the grade of the Patio now matches that of the clubhouse. What results is a cleaner flow and more utilitarian space. Our current Patio seating capacity is 120, while our projected seating capacity will be 186 (an increase of 55%). However, it is important to note that virtually all of this added pick-up in seating will be devoted to casual, congregational (and not dining) activity. Again, I hasten to add – this will undoubtedly enhance the Membership Experience while simultaneously adding to the F&B revenues – to say nothing of the showcasing opportunities that Stanwich will benefit from in the eyes of new, prospective members.
Some of the other ground-floor amenities will be a 12-14 seat rectangular shaped full-service bar, much improved lighting and ventilation systems, and a fireplace situated directly below that of the 2nd floor.
Once we get a better sense of the Construction Documents completion date, we will immediately reach out to membership with a date where Jim Rogers, Guy D’Ambrosio and myself can walk everyone through the Patio Project proposal and current updates. There will be, of course, sufficient time allotted for Q&A.
I hope you’ll agree with me that the overall Patio design is both functional and attractive. It is a spot, I feel, destined to create many wonderful memories with families and friends and cement our legacy as one of the finest Clubs in the East.
Many thanks,
Jim Tormey
President
Now, allow me to introduce our Treasurer, Dave Christie with some brief commentary on the financials…
I realize that many of you are thinking how much will this project cost and how are we going to pay for it. At this point in time we don’t have definite answers to either of these questions but we have some preliminary thinking that I will share with you. Preliminary project cost estimates are $2 to $3 million. I am being purposely vague about the cost because the bidding and contractor selection process has not been completed. Unlike the maintenance/camp renovation project, we do not have sufficient cash on hand to pay for the project necessitating either a membership assessment or additional debt. An assessment of $2,500 per regular member (lesser amounts for other membership categories as set forth in the by-laws) is under consideration. Such an assessment will yield approximately $1million. Any assessment or additional borrowing will require approval by the membership. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions about financing the project.
Thank you,
Dave Christie
Treasurer
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