Pickleball Projects Powering Forward

Boca Raton pickleball's kitchen is ready to get cooking. 

In September the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District began the conversion of two more Patch Reef Park tennis courts into six pickleball courts.

Resurfacing some areas of the courts is already complete. Once the surface cures, crews will begin painting the courts and installing the nets. 

The new courts are expected to be playable before the end of the year, doubling the amount of Patch Reef pickleball courts..

District Commissioners voted to temporarily convert those courts from tennis to pickleball to help meet the overwhelming demand for places to play America's fastest growing sport.

Commissioners also took steps to ensure a larger, more permanent solution for the Boca Raton community.

During a September special meeting Commissioners selected Boca Paddle, a group headed by South Florida developer Malcolm Butters, from five bidders hoping to build a new pickleball-centered sports complex at North Park (formerly known as Ocean Breeze).

Along with providing much-needed courts, Boca Paddle's proposal intends to foster pickleball's social aspects.

“The culture of pickleball is one that's extremely social,” said Boca Paddle's Brian Levine, former CEO of Major League Pickleball. “I think it's just going to be a place where people go to hang out, watch the football games, have a beer, bring the kids and socialize. That's really one of the goals - to kind of create a club.” 

Research from the American Pickleball Professionals found that nearly 50 million people have played the sport at least once over the past year – and the Boca Raton community is a pickleball hotbed. Three of the Top 5-ranked women nationally and two of the Top 5 men live in southern Palm Beach County. 

The creation of 22 new pickleball courts, 14 of which will be indoors, is the centerpiece of the Boca Paddle proposal. The indoor pickleball facility will be the first in Palm Beach County.

The proposal also includes four padel courts – two indoor, two outdoor – along with an indoor restaurant and multiple viewing areas.

Entrepreneur and pickleball instructor Stewart Davis, restaurateur Mitchell Robbins (Farmer's Table, Red Pine) and actor/philanthropist Catherine Butters are also part of Boca Paddle's team.

“I am pretty excited because I think this is such a great facility for the city of Boca Raton and for what I know - and we know - the residents want,” Davis said. “Guys like Brian and I go around the community a lot - both around the Boca Raton community and the South Florida pickle community. We hear what everybody's asking for and wanting to see more of in Boca Raton. We're just excited for the city in general.”

Commissioners have already started the process of negotiating the final design contract with Boca Paddle based on the original RFP response. 

At October's first public meeting, District Commissioners unanimously voted to issue addendums to the RFP for a covered pickleball facility at Patch Reef Park. Those proposals will be reviewed once the scope of the North Park project is finalized.