NAC gets go ahead for liquor license

NEWTlWN TlWNSHIP – The Newtown Athletic Club (NAC) has the go ahead from the township to obtain a liquor license from the Pennsylvania iiquor Control Board.

At its Sept. 21 meeting, the supervisors approved a transfer of a liquor license from Milford Township in rpper Bucks County to the NAC, which is owned by gim Worthington.

rnder the state liquor code a license transfer from one municipality to another within the county is permitted provided that it is first approved by the host municipality.

The NAC is seeking the license for a snack stand, which will service a new 76,600 square feet aquatics facility it is building next to club in the Newtown Commons. The snack stand will only be open seasonally.

Having the ability to sell beer and liquor, said Worthington, will “add to the ambiance of being there, like having a drink on the beach.

“We’re not trying to promote a party atmosphere,” added Worthington. “It will round out your experience. It’s a lifestyle - like having a pool in your backyard,” he said.

Worthington, who said he wants his members to be able to have a beer with a hamburger or a steak, said it’s well worth the couple of hundred thousand dollars that the liquor license would cost him to make that happen.

He likens serving alcohol at the pool to the towel service, the sauna and the steam room at the NAC. “They are amenities to what we do,” he said. “They’re amenities that make the club more attractive. This will be another amenity that will round out the experience.

“We don’t have to have giant parties,” Worthington continued. “We don’t have to build a bar -- that’s not the intent. If our members are happy they will stay members longer. That’s what it’s all about.”

Worthington received approval from the township in August to build an 18-acre outdoor pool complex and baseball academy adjoining its existing fitness center off of the Newtown Bypass on Penns Trail. The estimated price tag for the outdoor resort aquatics complex is $6 million, while the athletics component will cost between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Worthington, who has owned the NAC for more than 30 years, said that the NAC is on its way to becoming a “multi-sports lifestyle” resort which will be “top of the line.” The township had requested that Worthington limit the use to “members only,” to which he has agreed.

The total square footage for the project will be roughly 118,100 square feet and will include the field-house building, an outdoor athletic field and the aquatic complex. The field-house will be 41,500 square feet and the outdoor athletic field will be about 66,000 square feet. The aquatic component will cover 76,600 square feet.

The athletic facility will include indoor and outdoor uses for such sports as soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and cheerleading. It is replacing the baseball academy, which was recently torn down to make way for the project. The projected completion date for that portion of the project is gan. 2013.

“It’s really an oddity in the country,” he said of the NAC’s transformation into a “resort.

“It’s like a community within a community,” he said, adding that his new outdoor facility will be like “none other.”