The newly-designed golf courses and hotel are a tribute to the memory of the late William Pulte, founder of The Pulte Group, Inc. a real estate and home construction company. Mr. Pulte, who died in 2018, worked with Cardinal Adam Maida during the original conversion of the former Catholic seminary into the hotel and conference center during the 1990s. Mr. Pulte also helped finance the original remodeling of the property, owned by the Archdiocese of Detroit.
The Archdiocese sold the huge plot of land at Five Mile and Sheldon roads in Plymouth Township to the Pulte Family Management SJ LLC, a for-profit entity of the William J. Pulte Trust, last August. Mr. Pulte's children now manage the trust and, according to the company website, 100 percent of profits from St. Johns go to The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation and are used to serve those “in need around the Metro Detroit area and the world.”
The 27-hole golf course is being redesigned into an 18-hole championship course with five sets of tees, from 7,007 to 4,835 yards. A high-caliber, par-3 course and an 18-hole, natural grass putting course are also planned on the property. Plans also include the replacement of all tees, fairways and greens with new grass. The renovations will also include a $2 million irrigation system, according to submitted plans. The new courses are being designed by Ray Hearn who has completed more than 150 golf course projects.
Plans also include parking-lot beautification and landscaping, including the installation of a 70-foot flag. The pro shop and locker rooms are being renovated, and there are plans for a new, 15,000-square-foot ballroom, according to reports of the plans. The long-shuttered retreat-center buildings, which will serve as corridors for the new ballroom, will be renovated and reopened.
The seminary originally opened in the 1940s as an education center and retreat for Catholic priests and St. Johns Provincial Seminary remained in service for nearly 40 years.
While the golf course will remain closed during the renovations, Carl's Golfland on the site will remain open.
