Back to the Future

Cesar Ruiz bought Wyckoff with a sports complex in mind, but his intention now is to keep it a country club and grow both membership and events.

Cesar Ruiz says it was only a few hours after he wrapped up a well-attended press conference in early February 2024, announcing his plans to bring a large sports complex to Holyoke, when his phone first pinged with someone offering some real estate for the initiative.

“He texted, ‘I’m a Holyoke boy. I’ve got five and half acres in downtown Holyoke. I’d like to do my part,’” Ruiz said. “So we followed that thread, but it was nothing we were interested in.”

The second time it pinged … well, that was a little different.

“It was a text sent to the mayor and forwarded to me, saying, ‘I have 100 acres in Holyoke, and you may be interested in looking at it,’” Ruiz recalled. “I was thinking to myself … ‘where is there 100 acres in Holyoke?’”

Some quick research revealed that the parcel in question was Wyckoff Country Club, and its beleaguered owners were looking to sell.

And Ruiz, anxious to gain some momentum for his project and unwilling to be “outflanked,” as he put it, by other potentially interested parties, was willing to not only listen, but enter into a purchase-and-sale agreement.

Fast-forwarding our story a little, the Wyckoff site, bordering a thickly settled residential neighborhood off already-busy Route 141, was essentially deemed impractical for Ruiz’s plans for a sports complex that might become the new home to the Volleyball Hall of Fame but also include fields and courts for several other sports.

“This change in management has generated interest and some real momentum, I believe.”

But Ruiz, who closed on the property late last month for $2.8 million, is now committed to a different future for Wyckoff — its past, specifically the more distant past.

Indeed, the Donald Ross-designed course and its clubhouse and other facilities have fallen on hard times recently, with Wyckoff not fully enjoying the post-COVID surge many clubs are experiencing.

“There’s been no real work done on this place in 50 years,” said Ruiz, referring to both the course and the facilities, adding that this has led to a decline in both play and events staged at the club.

Ruiz, a serial entrepreneur with experience in everything from formalwear to healthcare, has started making investments — everything from chemicals for the course (little, if any, fertilizer was applied last year) to new golf carts to needed renovations within the clubhouse — and plans to keep making them to facilitate a comeback for the club, now 92 years old.

Cesar Ruiz says the plan is to make the needed investments to return Wyckoff Country Club to prominence.

“This change in management has generated interest and some real momentum, I believe,” he said, adding that he hopes to use his connections in the business world and the Latino community to bring more events — from weddings to wine tastings; from bingo to quinceañeras (sweet-15 birthday parties for Latinas) — to the property.

For this issue and its focus on commercial real estate, we talked with Ruiz at length about his acquisition of Wyckoff and his plans to return the facility to something approaching its former glory.

Course of Action

When asked if there would be a steep learning curve for him when it comes to running a golf club, Ruiz offered a light laugh and then a slight shrug.

Both gestures were might to acknowledge that, while he doesn’t have any experience running a club, he does have considerable experience — and quite a bit of success — in business.

And, as noted earlier, it has come in several different fields. These include men’s fashions — he was a franchisee of Gingiss Formal Wear, with a location in the Riverdale Shops, before opening his own store, Cesar’s Formal Wear, in Springfield’s X neighborhood — then financial services (specifically the mortgage business), and then healthcare, opening the hugely successful Golden Years, a home-care company that developed a staffing division as well, which he sold last fall.

Golf and events management are new and different businesses for him, Ruiz acknowledged, but the basics are … well, the basics.

And they include understanding the consumer and what they’re looking for; providing consistent, quality service; and making the necessary investments in people, technology, systems, and infrastructure.

Ruiz is focused on all three, especially, at this critical juncture, the needed investments. And there are many of them, starting with the property, where crews are working, or soon will be, on the roof, foyer, bathrooms, ballroom walls and ceiling (complete with new chandeliers), bar area (which will mirror the foyer), and more.

“We certainly have an opportunity to expand membership locally and perhaps beyond our borders to Worcester and Hartford, and we’re optimistic on that.”

The intent is to have this and other projects done for some upcoming events, including one on March 15, both to improve the experience for those gatherings and to showcase the improvements for potential future clients.

Meanwhile, on the course, Ruiz said he intends to make it green again — aerial photos from last year revealed too much brown from the lack of fertilizer — while also doing some work on the cart paths and other areas in need of work.

When asked about the planned initial investments, he said it’s a moving target — now about $300,000 and expected to move higher.

The initial investments, and talk of those to come, has generated interest and momentum, said Ruiz, adding that, since last April, with the announcement of the purchase-and-sale agreement, there was widespread speculation about the club’s future and whether it even had one.

The more recent announcement — that not only would it remain a golf course, but there would be significant reinvestment in the course and property — has spurred interest in membership and future events alike.

On the golf side, he intends to leverage his investments in the course and grounds; market aggressively to women, young people, Hispanics, and other constituencies; and try to take full advantage of the surge that many courses are still enjoying.

“They lost a lot of the women members, and we’d like to bring them back,” he said. “We’d like to bring youth back. We certainly have an opportunity to expand membership locally and perhaps beyond our borders to Worcester and Hartford, and we’re optimistic on that.”

Overall, Ruiz said he intends to rely on another of those business basics — creativity — when it comes to maximizing the potential of both the course and the facilities.

By that, he meant looking at other opportunities, from cross-country skiing and even snowmobiling to generate revenue during the winter months to staging different kinds of events, from an already-planned bridal showcase to quinceañeras and other types of events involving the Hispanic community.

Next Big Swing

While Ruiz will still be leading the efforts to bring a sports complex to Holyoke, his immediate focus is on those 100 acres first brought to his attention in that text just over a year ago.

In fact, his office has officially moved from the Golden Years complex to the back of the clubhouse at Wyckoff.

There, he’s planning the next stages in what he believes will be a true comeback story, one in which this Holyoke landmark strides confidently into the future by first turning back the clock.