Pickleball clubs coming to six additional sites as part of $180M expansion

The Pickleball Club, with assistance from Sarasota real estate firm Harry E. Robbins Associates Inc., recently acquired six additional locations that will be developed into indoor pickleball facilities.

In total, according to a press release, The Pickleball Club is investing $180 million into the development of 15 privately owned pickleball centers, most of which are in Southwest Florida. The first, located near Lakewood Ranch, is scheduled to open in January, followed by openings in Port St. Lucie and Bonita Springs in fall 2023.

"We are looking to build a private pickleball club for the multitudes,” states Brian McCarthy, co-founder and CEO of The Pickleball Club, in the release. “It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men and women to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man or woman making a good salary will be unable to join and enjoy the blessings of hours of pleasure playing pickleball indoors with friends and family."

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in America. According to the 2022 Sports & Fitness Industry Association Single Sport Report on Pickleball, the sport has grown to 4.8 million players in the U.S. From 2020 to 2021, the sport saw growth of 14.8%. The Pickleball Club, the release states, has also targeted Fort Myers, The Villages and Venice for expansion in 2024.

"When we were proposing potential sites for The Pickleball Club, we reviewed demographic information with a focus on finding places with strong populations of residents above 50 years old,” Harry E. Robbins Associated President Loyd Robbins states in the release. “We also took a hard look at the current zoning, traffic counts, size, and configurations of each of the properties before our proposals.”