Visions for Vacancy: What Should Move into the Highland Country Club?

On Thursday, against the landmark site. 

The club closed Oct. 3, just before one of the partners in the management of the country club, Jeff Garbinski, pleaded guilty to stealing from the club. He was sentenced to spend 18 months on house arrest followed by two years probation and ordered to pay $174,088 in restitution.

Garbinski and his partner, Jeff Cuny, under the company name J&J Holdings, purchased the property in December 2009 from its members, promising to revitalize it and opening parts of it up to the public, according to a Pittsbugh Business Times article written at the time. 

It's unclear exactly what is in store for the club. 

Slovak Savings Bank is in the process of foreclosing on the property. J&J Holdings owed the bank $2,006,152.23 as of Feb. 12.

A writ of execution was served on the partners March 20, according to court records.

The club and its property have a long history in the North Hills. Spreading across more than 117 acres in Ross Township and West View Borough, the club was built in the early 1920s after the death of property owner Casper Reel (a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, according to the country club's website) and his wife. The family plot is next to Hole No. 18 on the golf course. 

According to the website: 

The golf course has been revised several times since it opened in 1920. Architects that revised the course include J.G. Harrison in 1953, Edmund B. Ault in 1961, and Ferdinand Garbin in 1964.

In addition to the golf course, the property includes the club house, an Olympic-size swimming pool and tennis courts.

What would you like to see happen to the country club? Do you hope new owners take it over? Would you like to see it converted into another use?

Is there something that would benefit the North Hills area community? How could this space better serve you and your neighbors?