'The Big Build' Begins at the NAC

You could call it a country club without a golf course. A resort minus the plane ride. Or a swim club on steroids.

That’s what you can expect from the once a $12 million expansion and renovation project is complete.

The undertaking, being dubbed by management as “The Big Build,” will include the creation of a new cardio room, field house, turf field, and an outdoor pool complex that will be more reminiscent of the Bahamas than Bucks County.

“We’ve always tried to get to the next level, to be on the cutting edge,” club owner Jim Worthington said.

Just take a glimpse at the plans Worthington has in store for the future of the club, and you’ll know he’s not joking.

Perhaps most exciting is the four-acre pool complex that will include three pools, a lazy river and water slide. Plus, there will be an outdoor playground, basketball court and a lounge area for adults who don’t want to be surrounded by splashing children. Outdoor locker rooms are also included in the plan.

But before the pools are complete (Worthington expects that to happen in time for the summer of 2013), there are several other phases that must occur.

First things first.

To accommodate traffic flow and parking, the expansion project begins with a new driveway entrance off Pheasant Run and the closing of the Penns Trail entrance. That phase will be completed in the next few months.

Then, as soon as January 2012, the cardio room will be expanded by 12,000 square feet. All new fitness equipment will be purchased and a Jumbo Tron will be installed at the front of the room.

(For those of you who like to zone out to the latest “Real Housewives” drama while working out, don’t worry. NAC Marketing and Public Relations Director Linda Mitchell noted that each individual machine will still have its own television.)

Then in the fall of 2012, a new, 40,000-square-foot field house will open. It will take the place of the existing Baseball Academy that is adjacent, and owned by, the club. A turf field the size of a regulation football field will be added next to the field house.

Once that phase is complete, the brick building that is presently the Baseball Academy will be knocked down to make way for a resort-style pool complex.

If you ask Worthington how to describe what the pool complex will be like, he’ll rack off a list of high-end and highly desirable resorts in spots like Mexico, the Bahamas or Miami.

The pools won’t be like your standard swim club pools, he’s quick to note. They’ll have features, sprays and various elements to keep the kids busy and the parents happy.

The pool complex wasn’t designed with just the little ones in mind, though. There will be an adult pool and lounge area for people who are seeking peace and quiet.

For Worthington, a standard run-of-the-mill pool just wasn’t in the cards for the NAC.

“That product is already out there. I’m not interested in doing the same thing. I want to be the leader in the market,” he said.

Worthington became a partner at the club in 1981 and overtime became the managing partner. Since then, the NAC has undergone various improvements and renovations to make it an elite facility.

Thirty years ago, the NAC was just 11,000 square feet. It is now 120,000 square feet and growing.

“We took it this far. We have the ability to do something that in this area of the country hasn’t been done. We just want to see through what we started. It’s the next and final step,” Worthington said.