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Chicago

Pickleball proliferates in Chicagoland

Businesses build courts to revive roughed up commercial properties

College Park owner Jeff VanDixhorn and Market Square shopping center (Getty, LoopNet, LinkedIn/Jeff VanDixhorn)

College Park owner Jeff VanDixhorn and Market Square shopping center (Getty, LoopNet, LinkedIn/Jeff VanDixhorn)

Developers and retail landlords across the Chicago area are banking on the pickleball craze to revive roughed up retail properties.

A new business venture wants to replace a former climbing gym in Lincoln Park’s Market Square shopping center with a pickleball club. And in suburban Algonquin, Hubbard Street Group and racquetball court operator College Park Athletic Clubs aim to convert a former furniture store into a Topgolf-style pickleball venue, Crain’s reported. 

Pickleball, a racket sport that straddles the line between ping pong and tennis, has exploded in popularity in recent years. With traditional retail properties still reeling from the pandemic, which ignited an increase of online shopping, some landlords are fusing the country’s fastest-growing sport into their holdings. 

The Algonquin project, called Pickle Haus, will feature 12 indoor pickleball courts, three golf simulators, an event space and an outdoor patio. It will occupy the 41,000-square-foot building at 1621 South Randall Road, which formerly housed a Dania Furniture store until it closed in 2016. 

Hubbard Street acquired the site in 2019 and immediately leased it to health club chain 24 Hour Fitness, Hubbard Street Managing Partner Graham Palmer told the outlet. But the pandemic ruined the plan, and 24 Hour Fitness filed for bankruptcy protection, allowing it to break its lease. Now, however, the joint venture is bullish on expanding its pickleball portfolio.

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“We are very focused on Algonquin, but we are definitely interested in expanding,” College Park owner Jeff VanDixhorn told the outlet.

Meanwhile, the Lincoln Park pickleball club will occupy the 42,000-square-foot former Brooklyn Boulders climbing gym at 2121 North Clybourn Avenue. The venture behind the project comprises a group of investors from New York and Chicago. The Market Square shopping center is owned by a venture led by the Kamberos family, which founded the Treasure Island grocery chain.

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The Kamberos ownership group filed a lawsuit against Brooklyn Boulders for ditching its lease. The lawsuit asked a judge to order a Brooklyn Boulders affiliate to pay $34.8 million in rent and other expenses as part of a lease that ran until 2039. 

— Quinn Donoghue

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1621 South Randall Road2121 North Clybourn AvenueAlgonquinCollege Park Athletic ClubsGraham PalmerHubbard Street GroupJeff VanDixhornLincoln ParkPickleballRetail