Pinellas Park approves multimillion-dollar pickleball facility
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 22, 2023

A multimillion-dollar pickleball facility received the support of Pinellas Park council members on Sept. 14 and will soon be headed to the Gateway Centre Business Park.

The Pickleball Club announced in April it planned to bring a 41,316-square-foot indoor pickleball facility to Pinellas Park. The group was founded in 2019 and both develops and manages private member-based pickleball facilities throughout Florida. On Sept. 14, the city granted preliminary site plan approval for the facility.

In April, The Pickleball Club announced two new projects: the Pinellas Park facility and a new project in Venice. The Pinellas Park project will span eight acres and will include 16 indoor pickleball courts, a players’ lounge mezzanine, an outside activity area with pickleball and bocce ball courts, Dink’s Pro Shop and Pickle’s Café.

The Venice facility is expected to open in July 2024 and will sit on 5.5 acres at the intersection of Crestview Boulevard and Jacaranda Boulevard. It will also be 40,000 square feet and will have 14 indoor courts and an outdoor section with both pickleball and bocce ball courts. The facility will also include a players’ lounge mezzanine, Pickle’s Café and Dink’s Pro Shop.

The Pickleball Club opened its first facility in Sarasota near Lakewood Ranch this Spring. The group also has facilities planned for Port St. Lucie, Bonita Springs, Forty Myers and the Villages. Each of the clubs will be between 34,000 and 50,000 square feet.

The organization started in 2019 after founders Brian McCarthy and Matt Gordon realized pickleball was gaining traction throughout the country. Pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. for the past three years, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.

In April, Gordon said in a release that The Pickleball Club was “far and away the market leader” in the development of indoor club facilities in the U.S. Gordon said they had more than 100 individual equity investors supporting the expansion of the company.