Vornado’s Latest Play at Penn 1? Pickleball

The pickleball craze doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

Life Time Group signed a lease to occupy more than 53,000 square feet at Vornado Realty Trust’s Penn 1 development, the New York Post reported. Details regarding the duration and asking rent of the deal were not disclosed.

There’s already a fitness center on the second and third floors of the Midtown tower, which is between 33rd and 34th streets, adjacent to both Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. In addition to those two floors, Life Time will also take on the first floor of the 57-story property.

The ground floor will be occupied by seven indoor pickleball courts, which are expected to open next year, while the rest of the revamped fitness center should be operational by the summer. The ground floor space will also include a lounge, seating and bar area and training spaces, according to the New York Business Journal.

Last month, Samsung signed a deal for 36,000 square feet at the office tower, poised to take the entire 26th floor of the 2.5-million-square-foot building. Other major tenants include Dell, Empire Heath, Gusto, Hartford Insurance, Jacobs Engineering, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

Vornado has signed leases for more than 700,000 square feet of office space since it began renovating the property, dumping $450 million for new plazas, a curtain wall, improved elevators, lobbies, LEED certification and further sustainability upgrades. It also added 160,000 square feet to the base for food and recreation amenities.

Pickleball is a phenomenon that knows no bounds in New York City. Courts are popping up everywhere, from parks to private developments.

CityPickle signed a 10,000-square-foot lease for a pickleball club in Long Island City. Life Time put a pickleball court in the Moinian Group’s luxury apartment building at 605 West 42nd Street, which it said was the first dedicated indoor pickleball court in the city. And Related is adding courts at Hudson Yards.

Life Time has been steadily increasing its foothold in the city. Last year, it signed a lease to occupy more than 100,000 square feet at JDS Development’s Brooklyn Tower, the first supertall in the borough.

— Holden Walter-Warner