TELLICO VILLAGE, Tenn. — Tellico Village, a senior living community in Loudon County, is getting a new golf clubhouse. A fire heavily damaged the clubhouse in August 2022, after it originally opened in the late 1990s.
Casey Flenniken, the director of golf operations for Tellico Village, said more than 10,000 people live in the senior living community, which made golf operations the busiest they've ever been.
"It's gonna really be a great chance for us to have a bigger golf shop space, a bigger restaurant, more indoor and outdoor seating, a bigger cart storage space for our golf operations team and overall just a better experience for everybody," said Flenniken.
Tellico Village leaders hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to start construction of the golf clubhouse on Monday. Chet Pillsbury, the CEO of the Tellico Village Property Owners Association, said the groundbreaking was more than a rebuilding. He described it as bringing a shared vision to life.
"This has been a two-year process for me that I've been very excited about because I had the unfortunate experience to have it happen just as I came on board, and then to have the ability to work through the process and then get it started and up and running and hopefully rebuild as quickly as possible. It was one of the signature buildings for the community, And so, lots of people have missed it and commented on that and are very happy to have it back — not just Tellico Village but local folks," said Pillsbury.
The new $11.5 million dollar clubhouse will have a restaurant, a golf simulator and a pro shop. John Orr, a board member for the Tellico Village Property Owners Association, said it took more than 2 years to officially kick off the new clubhouse's construction.
"It's been a long process, but I think the process has delivered an end result that we're hoping meets everybody's needs. And we can do it within budget," he said.
Rollen "Buddy" Bradshaw, the Loudon County mayor, said he expects the new golf clubhouse will be good for the local economy.
"Loudon County depends on a lot of its tourism. Part of our tourism, part of our draw, was having folks out here on the water and it was an easy stop-in to get a burger with fries, or a sandwich, or a salad. And so I'm excited to see it get here and excited to see it come back," said Bradshaw.
Pillsbury said there is a silver lining to the clubhouse being damaged. He said crews were able to build improved parking, a bigger building a better space compared to the previous building.
Construction on the golf clubhouse is expected to take a little more than a year. It's expected to open in early 2026.