The process of approving a sale contract to sell the Florence Golf and Country Club from the city of Florence to UNA’s partner Shenqi Medical College in China is close to completion, said Florence Mayor Mickey Haddock.

“The attorneys are going through (the legal language of the contract) now to make it acceptable to all parties,” he said. “Our city attorney has completed the contract and we have sent it to UNA’s legal counsel, Tammy Irons. She changed some of the language; we made some changes and sent it back.”

There is still no definite date on when the contract will be completed so that construction can begin, Haddock said. He said he believes the process could be finished soon.

“If Chairman Zhang (Zhiting, of Shenqi Medical College) could be here in the future, we could all get in one room room and finish the contract in a relatively short amount of time,” Haddock said.

The country club building currently houses services for Florence seniors and will be leased to the city of Florence for a year once Zhang and the Shenqi group purchase the property, he said.

“The final versions of the (sale) contract and the lease agreement are almost complete,” Haddock said. “To minimize disruption, he’s given us a year to relocate those (senior) services. That does not prohibit them from construction on the property while the current building is being used.”

Haddock said the overall sales process has not been anything out of the ordinary.

“There hasn’t been anything other than the reviewing of the contract; it’s just the (legal) language that you have to go through,” he said. “There will still be a time period before the purchase can be finalized where they can go through and evaluate the property. We do not foresee anything that would keep the sale from going through.”

Haddock said he is looking forward to the impact the new program will have on the university and the community.

“The thing that I’m most excited about is the opportunity for the city to partner with UNA,” he said. “This new program will provide opportunities for us to partner with students that are from all over the region, our nation and the world.”