They hope to present a final concept to the parks board in 2026.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Hiawatha Golf Course is about to get a makeover.
Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB) is presenting three different design concepts to the public for the first time. They’ll present them at the Lake Nokomis Community Center between 6:30 and 8 p.m. Thursday.
Tyler Pederson, a design project manager at MPRB, said the principles are the same in all the concepts but the features are different. They hope people will pick and choose their favorite features, so they have a better idea of what to include in the final design.
The redevelopment would cost an estimated $43 million. The golf course is known to flood, so the new course would be flood-resistant with better irrigation. Pederson said they could start installing a better irrigation system next year.
“Several of the golf course holes, about 40 acres, sit below the level of the lake, so it’s kind of a bathtub,” Pederson said.
He said once the water rises to more than 18 feet., the water goes over the berms and then gets trapped.
“We build walls and we brough in fill to the golf course. We created giant berm and put in pumps that moved 240 million gallons of water each year from the golf course,” said Al Bongoura, MPRB superintendent.
“We need to be sure that the golf course is up out of the flood plain area and the lower areas are actually made a little bit lower, so we’re kind of re-arranging the flood plain volumes, so that the golf course can drain and be flood resistant,” Pederson said.
Pederson said because of this, they won’t have enough dry land to create an 18-hole golf course, but they have a way around it.
The architect of the new course, Brandon Johnson, designed a 9-hole golf course that can be played in 18 holes.
Johnson said they’re also looking into creating short 3-hole and 9-hole courses.
The new course would add two miles of trails, new practice facilities, a possible banquet and classroom space. They also hope to improve cross-country skiing by adding lights and possibly purchasing a snow machine.
They want to make all these changes to better the course and make sure history doesn’t get washed away.
“Hiawatha Golf Course has had four major floods in the last 75 years, that’s four in 100-year floods in 75 years,” Bongoura said.
The clubhouse is named after Solomon Hughes, a black golfer who fought to integrate the clubhouse, after the public course opened its doors to Black golfers.
“That family and Soloman Sr. he broke the barriers, he opened up the course for a lot of people like myself now, who can look to that history and recognize the importance of it, so working with the family and talking with them is very important,” Bongoura said.
“We understand the history of the golf course and the importance, but that history is still alive today and we want to perpetuate that into the future,” Pederson said.
Pederson said there will be a focus on introducing younger golfers to the sport, specifically focusing on kids of color.
He said they plan to partner with First Tee to help with programming and running their practice facilities.
Pederson said after they get public feedback they will focus on creating one design to present to the board next year. He said the course will remain open until the groundbreaking. They’ll have secure funding first but the earliest they could break ground is 2030.