Chicago's pickleball presence is growing
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A developer is eyeing the Chicago area for a pickleball takeover.
Driving the news: Chicago-based Hubbard Street Group and racquet club owner College Park Athletic Clubs are planning to turn an old Algonquin furniture store into a Top Golf-like pickleball space called Pickle Haus, Crain's reported Monday.
- It's slated to open in November, and the developers say they plan to open five more in the Chicago area.
Why it matters: Chicago and cities nationwide are in a love-hate relationship with pickleball, Axios' Jennifer A. Kingson writes.
- America's fastest-growing sport is a boon for players who are aging out of tennis — and others who dig its vibe — but it's noisy and draws continual complaints from tennis players who've been kicked off their turf.
- Meanwhile, cities can't build courts fast enough — and they're tapping everything from COVID-19 relief funds to municipal bonds to raise the necessary cash.
By the numbers: Chicago is nowhere near the top-ranked cities for pickleball, according to data from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a pro-parks nonprofit.
- The city has 1.3 pickleball courts per 100,000 people, per TPL.
- Meanwhile, places like Seattle and St. Petersburg, Florida, have around 20.
The intrigue: Lincoln, Nebraska, is No. 3 on the list — which surprised even the city's parks and rec facilities manager, who chalked it up to the dedication of some local snowbirds who caught pickleball fever in Phoenix and lobbied their hometown to build courts.
The big picture: There's been a sixfold increase in the number of public pickleball courts in the 100 biggest U.S. cities since 2017 — from 420 to 2,788 — but municipal leaders say they still can't come close to meeting demand from pickleheads.
What they're saying: "The cities that have really good park systems tend to be the ones that have a lot of pickleball courts," says Will Klein, associate director of parks research at TPL.
- "Those are also the same cities that we found are the healthiest places to live," with the best measures of mental health and physical activity.
Go deeper: The best cities for pickleball players