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The Italian American Cultural Society is building a $4.5 million clubhouse on its Clinton Township site.
The new building will enable the society to move its offices and membership activities out of the Italian American Banquet & Conference Center, a hot spot for weddings, funerals, baby showers and other events.
Founded in 1962, the society bought the clubhouse of the former Partridge Creek Golf Course at 43843 Romeo Plank Road just south of Hall Road in 2000. It moved into it a few years later after remodeling it into the banquet center, said Massimo D’Aristotile, chairman of the board’s building committee and vice president of the Detroit division of national builder M/I Homes Inc.
“It’s been a dream of the society for quite some time. It’s been a long time of planning, saving and really figuring out how to get this,” he said.
The banquet center is in high demand for rental events, so it’s challenging to schedule meetings, language classes and other society happenings, D’Aristotile said. The new clubhouse building will be for members only, outside of use of classrooms for language education and possibly some local school use.
The society has about 1,000 members, he said, noting the majority are Italian Americans, but memberships are open to people of any culture.
It is funding the construction through a combination of reserves and a $2 million loan, the society’s treasurer, Maria Cicchini, told Crain’s in an email.
It reported $3.6 million in revenue and an operating excess of $86,492 on its 2023 Form 990, the most recent year available for the tax-exempt organization.
The bulk of its annual revenue comes from banquet center rentals, D’Aristotile said, with other revenue coming from fee-based Italian language classes and membership dues ranging from $40 annually for seniors to $250 for clubs or organizations looking to hold meetings at the banquet center.
Construction on the 10,000-square-foot clubhouse began a year ago and is set to be completed in August, he said.
“Our goal is to make it a space that’s going to make it the heart of our society,” D’Aristotile said.
The single-story building will include office space for the society’s seven staff members, two state-of-the-art kitchens, large classrooms and recreational rooms, a library, indoor bocce courts, a café and lounge area with a full bar in the basement. It will also feature a finished, walk-out basement and a large, covered terrace that looks out on a nature preserve, D’Aristoltile said. Outdoor amenities will include bocce courts and an outdoor pizza oven.
Mauro Engineering and Architecture is the architect on the project and Jonna Construction is the general contractor.
Though a membership group, the Italian American Cultural Society has charitable, 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. It provides language classes for local schools and the public, supports other community organizations with free rentals and other support, donates food to local school sports teams, provides services for elders in the community and publishes The Italian American newspaper monthly to provide community news.
It also funds $15,000 in scholarships annually and makes financial donations to St. Louis Center in Chelsea, Angels of Hope, Children’s Heart Foundation, Italian Film Festival and others, Cicchini said.
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