MANSFIELD — A former City of Mansfield park once known for its baseball and softball fields may soon welcome a different kind of athlete.
Local businessman and owner Dan Niss is in the process of purchasing the former Hamilton Park and expanding Westbrook Country Club, which he owns with his wife, Brenda.
The Richland County Land Bank board voted Wednesday to sell about 19 acres of the property to Niss for $50,000.
Niss plans to establish a nine-hole golf course there with a “state-of-the-art” teaching and practice facility, according to a business plan submitted to the Land Bank board.
Niss will purchase the property with a development mortgage — meaning the Land Bank retains the right to “claw back” the property if the purchaser doesn’t follow through with the proposed development plan.
However, that didn’t seem to be a concern among members of the Land Bank board.
“Dan and Brenda, they have made a lot of investments all over Richland County,” said Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry, a Land Bank board member.
“We’re excited to continue to work with them for many years to come. They love to get things done and they’ve got lots of ideas. So I think this is going to be a great step in that direction,” she said.
Dan and Brenda Niss didn’t attend the meeting and were not available for comment by the time this story published.
(Below is a PDF showing the business plan for “The Diamond” at Westbrook Country Club.)
The former Hamilton Park was located just north of U.S. 30 on the city’s north side.
Business plan lays out vision for beginner-friendly course and educational center
“The Diamond” at Westbrook Country Club will be a par-3 style course with distances ranging from 94 to 201 yards with a total yardage of 1,054 yards, according to the business plan.
The teaching and learning center will consist of two open bays facing the course, an indoor putting green and space for workshops, as well as a pro shop.
The Diamond will be designed to promote inclusivity, development and growth through golf, according to the plan.
The business plan states the facility will emphasize accessibility and learning by providing a comfortable teaching environment for beginners and selective programming for schools, veterans and adaptive athletes.
It also lists middle schools and high schools as a target group for clinics and seminars. Golf course architect Tyler Rae is identified as the course designer.
Perry said to her knowledge, there isn’t a rendering or design mock up for the course yet.
“They have kind of a loose idea of where the holes would go for the golf course, but they’re going to need to figure out the clubhouse and all that,” she said.
Above is a slide from the Richland County Land Bank showing the land being purchased by Dan and Brenda Niss.
Hamilton Park was located on the north side of Mansfield, directly north of U.S. 30.
The Richland County Land Bank assumed ownership of the property in 2020, when the city of Mansfield divested 10 “un-utilized or under-utilized parks” to the Land Bank.
While the other nine parks were between one and three acres each, Hamilton Park spanned more than 20 acres.
The land bank previously voted to “hold” the site for Dan and Brenda Niss after they expressed interest in June 2022.
The Diamond will be directly adjacent to the former Lumberman’s Insurance Property, which the Nisses purchased in 2022 to build condominiums.
On the other side of the Lumberman’s property is the Westbrook Country Club, which the Nisses also own.
Dan and Brenda Niss have provided financial support for the Niss Athletic Center at Ashland University, 33 Forever and sponsored the City of Ontario fireworks show.
Niss also operates Niss Aviation, the fixed-base operator at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
In 2021, Harmony House Homeless Services, now known as Wayfinders Ohio, had hoped to obtain the former park for a project it estimated at $16 to $22 million to relocate its West Third Street facility.
The Land Bank voted unanimously to give the organization about 18 months to raise at least 50 percent of the required funding for the first phase of the project, about $1.5 million.
Funding didn’t materialize and the plan was dropped. Wayfinders Ohio is now working to move to 661 Park Ave. East, a property it obtained from the Richland County Land Bank.
Remodeling the Park Avenue East site was estimated at $2 million to $2.6 million, using a mix of public and private funding.