Nestled within the sloping hills of Carroll County, on the outskirts of Minerva, Ohio — which sits about 90 minutes west of Pittsburgh and 90 minutes south of Cleveland — lies Nice Path Golf Course.
The 27-hole resort has been a Minerva-area staple for almost 55 years, offering alternatives for golfers and others since 1969.
And, till lately, it had all the time been within the Fry household. The final three many years Steve and Cathy Fry owned the 330-acre property and guided its operations. Steve Fry’s father and brother began Nice Path and it advanced over time.
“It was our lifestyle,” Steve Fry stated.
Now of their 60s, Steve and Cathy Fry determined to retire from the enterprise full-time and offered the property.
The consumers are 5 Minerva natives — Amanda and Andy Conrad, Steve Ogden, Nate Shriver and Nehemiah Shriver — who saved the property from a possible public sale. They took the keys in late October. The Conrads and Ogden used to work there for the Frys.
“We couldn’t be happier,” Steve Fry stated. “It was like a godsend for these folks to come back collectively.”
Minerva’s Nice Path Golf Course has new homeowners in Amanda and Andy Conrad.
Andy Conrad: ‘In our minds, public sale meant no golf course.’
The Conrads, homeowners of Sandy Springs Brewing Firm, first met at Nice Path. They have been off-and-on co-workers for a number of years. Amanda Conrad helped within the professional store and with catered occasions. Andy Conrad realized mechanical expertise as a course upkeep employee.
They later married.
With these recollections, the Conrads weren’t going to let Nice Path hit the public sale block — an choice for the Frys — believing the course would shut completely and the property would possibly turn into simply one other housing improvement if it did.
“In our minds, public sale meant no golf course,” Andy Conrad stated.
Decided, the Conrads introduced associates Ogden and the Shrivers into the mission. Ogden, who now lives in Nashville, additionally used to work at Nice Path. The Shrivers, homeowners of R&S Cement, had been trying to companion with the Conrads for a while.
Collectively, they purchased the property for about $1.7 million.
Just like the others, Nehemiah Shriver stated he sees the resort as a possibility to develop right into a vacation spot spot, that pulls extra folks to the Minerva space, and gives jobs for the group. He additionally hopes the property continues to supply that household ambiance.
“It’s a possibility actually to drag not simply these golf fans however the complete household, probably simply to benefit from the group and the outside. Households can come right here and have dinner … loosen up,” Nehemiah Shriver stated.
Steve Fry is staying on with the brand new homeowners in an advisory function. His stepson, Mitch Shick, stays answerable for course upkeep. The place employs 22 staff, a lot of them highschool or college-aged.
“They have already got group right here in place,” Amanda Conrad stated.
Nice Path Golf Course, simply exterior Minerva, Ohio, in Carroll County has new homeowners, together with Amanda and Andy Conrad. The resort has a 27-hole course, motel rooms and different facilities, together with a professional store and banquet corridor. The brand new homeowners are planning to renovate the areas contained in the resort middle.
Andy Conrad credited his spouse for spearheading this enterprise.
“She’s been the driving pressure for all of this,” he stated. “She pushed it via the end line.”
Sitting at a desk, Amanda Conrad stated their return to Nice Path, now as homeowners, has been an emotional one. Photos of previous workers nonetheless lined the home windows, like a household tree, and a lot of the decor stays the identical as when she labored there.
“I nonetheless really feel the feelings of Cathy and Steve as a result of this was their child for therefore a few years,” she stated.
Amanda Conrad stated the companions wish to hold lots of the traditions that made Nice Path particular. Additionally they have formidable plans to boost the 29,000-square-foot resort on the property, together with including a sister brewery.
The brewery shall be known as Nice Path Brewing Co.
“Sandy Springs doesn’t personal it,” Andy Conrad careworn. “The rationale we’re calling it a sister brewery is as a result of I make beer down there (at Sandy Springs) and I’m going to make the beer right here, too. That’s it.”
The group additionally plans to renovate eight motel rooms, a banquet room and professional store. They plan to place in a wood-fired pizza oven, an arcade and three convention rooms obtainable for hire or group occasions.
“We’re actually simply attempting to capitalize on getting folks from out of city into Minerva in order that they will see what our little city has to supply,” Amanda Conrad stated.
The golf course will keep open year-round
In the meantime, the brand new homeowners stated the golf course stays open year-round for tee occasions, climate allowing. They don’t count on renovations of the services to intrude with the enterprise.
Additionally they have a Facebook page to replace circumstances and occasions.
“We’re simply taking a torch that (the Frys) stored burning for therefore lengthy, and we’re going to simply carry it farther, and construct upon what they’ve began,” Andy Conrad stated.
Attain Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or [email protected]. On X (previously Twitter): @bduerREP
