ARMONK – A new pickleball club is setting up shop at 100 Business Park Drive, creating a hub where local players can join the nation’s fastest-growing sport.
The 26,550-square-foot pickleball facility operated by SPORTIMAGE will feature 11 indoor courts, locker rooms and event space. It will offer programs for all levels, from beginners to advanced, and will host lessons, games and tournaments. The facility is expected to open next fall.
Individual memberships cost about $20 a month, said Claude Okin, president and CEO of SPORTIME, considered the largest racquet sports operator in New York. Nonmembers can rent courts and participate in programs at nonmember rates.
Okin said the club would be part of the company’s goal of having 200 pickleball courts built by 2030.
At the moment, many pickleball players are forced to use tennis courts. For this, the net must be lowered from 91 cm in the middle to 86 cm.
But special courts are preferred and in demand, Okin said.
“The way pickleball becomes the fastest growing sport in the country is that people are playing everywhere, in gyms, on schoolyards, on asphalt,” Okin said. “But we found that once players got skilled and competitive, they wanted a dedicated space.”
SPORTIM has Pickleball facilities in Eastchester and Mamaroneck, in addition to eight on Long Island, one in Manhattan on Randall’s Island, and one in Schenectady.
There were approximately 13.6 million pickleball players in the United States in 2023, a 223.5% increase since 2020, according to the 2024 Sports & Fitness Industry Association Topline Participation Report. Florida has the most courts (5,790), followed by California (5,604), Texas (3,706), Ohio (2,648) and New York (2,528), according to Pickleheads, an online platform that helps players find pickleball courts, schedule matches and join groups.
Okin said pickleball has become wildly popular because of the relative ease of play, the low cost of entry and the social opportunities. He predicted that pickleball could eventually become a collegiate or Olympic sport and remain popular for decades.
“I think it will outlast all of us,” Okin said. “It’s egalitarian. It mixes people more than tennis and golf in terms of ages and genders.”
Ross Meyer, a ninth-grader at Byram Hills High School, was looking forward to the club opening so he could play year-round and meet new friends. He learned pickleball in 2021 during a visit to Florida.
“I saw people playing and I said to my dad, ‘What is this?’ He said, ‘I have no idea,’” Meyer said.
He fell in love with the sport after receiving a paddle for Christmas. “I can’t wait to get out there and play,” he said. “It’s a great social game and a fun way to make new friends.”
The new pickleball facility will be part of a $39.6 million project at 100 Business Park Drive, an industrial site, that also includes an 85,000-square-foot expansion of an existing 60,000-square-foot warehouse and the addition of an 82,400-square-foot self-storage facility. The property was acquired by Basis Industrial in 2023.
Anthony Scavo, chief operating officer of Basis Industrial, said recreational and self-storage facilities are in high demand given the low inventory of industrial properties in the area. The property was fully leased prior to construction.
Helu Wang covers development and real estate for The Journal News/lohud and USA Today Network. Reach her at hwang@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Armonk NY to get new pickleball club, self-storage facilities
