Golf legend Jack Nicklaus was visiting Buffalo on Monday to push for a new signature golf course, as well as an upgraded course in Delaware Park and the restoration of an original arboretum in South Park designed in 1894, The Buffalo News reported.
Nicklaus was meeting with donors and city officials to sell the plans, which have the backing of the National Association for Olmsted Parks.
The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy and the City of Buffalo have not yet endorsed the proposals, and without the greenlight Nicklaus and project-seeker Kevin Gaughan, a local attorney and civic advocate, cannot proceed.
Gaughan, along with the nonprofit organization Nicklaus Olmsted Buffalo, has set sights on a 107-acre piece of land that was a former industrial site, which would be transformed into a Nicklaus-designed signature golf course.
Gaughan said he would dedicate a portion of the land to developing an educational and vocational center that would train inner-city youth in areas such as golf course management, botany, water reclamation and horticulture, The Buffalo News noted.
Gaughan also intends to redesign the golf course located in Frederick Law Olmsted's Delaware Park and restore the original arboretum, a 155-acre stretch of land in South Park originally designed to include over 2,300 types of trees, shrubs and plants.
The entire project is expected to cost $42 million, however Gaughan assured it would not fall on taxpayers and will be privately funded, WKBW reported.
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