Delaware National Country Club to Close

One of Delaware's oldest country clubs is closing at the end of the year.

An owner of the Delaware National Country Club, Ron Holliday, says the club has agreed to terminate its five-year lease with the real estate firm Pettinaro Company. He says it's no longer feasible to operate the club, in part because of a high electric bill.

Holliday says he's trying to find jobs for about 70 employees who will soon be unemployed.

The club opened in 1937 as the Hercules Country Club, a golf course for executives of former chemical company Hercules Inc. which was spun out of the DuPont Co. It currently has an 18-hole course.

A portion of the former Hercules Country Club site is owned by Homebuilder Toll Brothers, which plans to build a 264-unit housing development there.