Pease Golf Course may add events center to meet demands

PORTSMOUTH — The Pease Development Authority’s Board of Directors voted to spend as much as $112,000 to study the idea of creating a permanent events center at Pease Golf Course.

The board voted unanimously Thursday to allocate the monies to hire Harriman Associates — one of the Pease Development Authority’s architectural service providers — to study the costs and feasibility of expanding the event space.

The Pease Golf Course Clubhouse currently hosts “seasonal special events and tournaments using a 2,400-square-foot tent, which accommodates patron dining,” according to Michael Mates, director of engineering for the PDA.

But as Scott DeVito, the golf course’s general manager said Thursday, the tent typically doesn’t go up until the beginning of May.

The popular Pease Golf Course features a total of 27 holes, a driving range, golf shop, and the existing Grill 28 restaurant. It is located near the Route 33 entrance to the Pease International Tradeport.

Pease Golf Course services strained during events

When they do hold events using the tent, Mates said, “supporting services areas” in the clubhouse, like the kitchen and bathrooms, “are shared with everyday Grill 28 restaurant operations.”

Those facilities can handle normal restaurant operations, but “they become overloaded when also serving these extra events,” Mates said.

Expanding the clubhouse would be aimed at “providing increased customer comfort, extending the event season and easing operational difficulties for restaurant and event staff,” Mates said.

More local news: Portsmouth neighbors criticize Chinburg demolishing homes for million-dollar 'McMansions'

The first step in considering how best to improve the Pease Golf Course facilities, “is to study alternatives for expanding the clubhouse,” Mates said, “either by adding to the existing building or constructing a new event center near the existing building.”

Cost estimates to be developed for project

Harriman’s work to study the alternatives will include creating conceptual site plans and renderings and “opinions of costs for each alternative,” Mates said.

Port City Air: Without fanfare, Pease airport services provider boosts Seacoast economy

The firm will also provide “an assessment of existing and required parking, utilities, code conformance, kitchen layout, permit requirements and other pertinent information,” he said.

“At the conclusion of the study, staff will recommend a course of action, to the board that may include proceeding with the design and construction of an event center,” Mates said.

DeVito said the goal would be for an expanded clubhouse or new center to handle events with as many as 220 people.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Pease Golf Course may add events center