The former Brandywine Golf Course in Peninsula is set to become part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) as the result of a deal announced Thursday morning, Oct. 3.

The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park said it signed a purchase agreement to buy the 215-acre property and convert it to park land. The course has been closed since 2018 and has been on the market for several months, "leading to speculation that the land might be sold for development," the conservancy said in a news release.

Terms of the purchase agreement were not disclosed. The land is adjacent to the Virginia Kendall area of CVNP to the south, Camp Manatoc and Camp Butler to the east, and the Cuyahoga River to the west.

In the release, the Conservancy said it "must begin to raise the funds in order to close the deal next September. The plan is to determine the best use of the land for park purposes and to use a variety of sources, including federal land acquisition monies with the help of the Trust for Public Land, and private fundraising through the Conservancy from local sources, to secure the balance due on the property."

Conservancy CEO Deb Yandala said in a statement, "We are very confident our members and the community at large will step forward to help us complete this purchase."

In a phone interview, she her confidence stems from past and current community support for the park. "People have always been extremely generous in their love of (CVNP)," she said.

Brandywine Golf Course was opened in the 1960s by Earl Yesberger and the Yesberger family. It operated as a public course until 2018, when then-owner Ryan Yesberger, the grandson of Earl Yesberger, died suddenly. The property then was sold to Brandywine Country Club Inc.

Yandala said in the release that when the Brandywine land first became available, the Trust for Public Land "stepped forward to explore ways the property might become part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park." She said a deal was "a high priority for the Trust, but interest in the property increased substantially in just a few months, and the group was unable to complete its due diligence fast enough to make a purchase."

However, she said, "members of the Conservancy were able to step forward to secure a purchase agreement with the current owners before the property was sold to another party. The property is zoned residential and could have easily been used for that purpose if we had not been able to act quickly."

CVNP Superintendent Craig Kenkel said in a statement, "Words cannot express our gratitude to the Trust for Public Land for beginning the acquisition process and to the Conservancy for completing the negotiations and providing the funding to secure a contract. This is a legacy gift to Northeast Ohio of land everyone can use and enjoy."

Yandala said Conservancy and CVNP soon will begin "studying the property and considering potential uses."

The deal announcement kicks off an eventful month for the Conservancy, which in 2016 launched a campaign to build a new visitor center for CVNP. It ultimately raised $7.1 million for that facility, which will open Friday, Oct. 25. It will be called the Boston Mill Visitor Center and is in a rehabilitated, century-old complex on Riverview Road in Boston Township.