Sportime Pickleball, a division of Sportime Clubs, which bills itself as the largest operator of tennis clubs in the greater New York area and has 23 locations in New York and New Jersey, plans to open a 30,000-square-feet pickleball facility in the Yorktown Green Shopping Center.
It’s another step in the revitalization of the Yorktown Green Shopping Center, which recently saw the opening of a new T.J. Maxx store. Yorktown Green is owned by Oster Properties.
Sportime plans to have 12 indoor pickleball courts, two party rooms, a lounge, and a fully stocked pro shop. The new facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025.
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the country, having grown 51.8% from 2022 to 2023, and 223.5% since 2020, according to The Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Pickleball courts typically are 44 feet long and 20 feet wide. A regulation tennis court is 78 feet long and 36 feet wide. In pickleball, a perforated plastic ball is used along with a solid paddle, unlike the strung rackets used in tennis. Pickleball incorporates elements of badminton, tennis and ping pong.
Sportime Pickleball says that the expansion to Yorktown is part of the company’s plan to create and program 200 dedicated, indoor pickleball courts in the Tri-state area by 2030. The company currently has facilities under construction in Armonk and Westbury in New York and Englewood and Wayne in New Jersey.
“We are excited to bring a state-of-the-art, dedicated pickleball facility to the Yorktown Heights community,” said Claude Okin, president and CEO of Sportime. “We know that local interest in the sport is already robust in the Yorktown area. Our new center will offer players of all levels a convenient way to learn and play pickleball at a beautiful facility in a convenient and popular location.”
RIPCO Real Estate was involved in arranging the lease.
