Club Bulletin

Nov 21, 2024

Sportime Pickleball Expands to Yorktown Heights with 30,000-Square-Foot Facility

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sportime Pickleball Expands to Yorktown Heights 
with 30,000-Square-Foot Facility
Opening Fall 2025, State-of-the-Art Facility to Feature 12 Indoor Courts, 
Pro Shop, Lounge, and More

Yorktown, NY (November 19, 2024)—Sportime Pickleball, a leading pickleball club operator in the Northeast, has secured a long-term lease in the Yorktown Green Shopping Center to open a 30,000 square-foot pickleball center offering 12 dedicated, indoor pickleball courts, two party rooms, a lounge, and a fully stocked pro shop. Scheduled to open in fall 2025, Sportime Pickleball’s state-of-the-art facility will provide a range of services, including court-rentals, level-rated open play sessions, group and private instruction and clinics, tournaments, and special events, and a junior academy dedicated to training the next generation of pickleball players. The company will begin actively hiring a team of professionals, including a General Manager and a Director of Pickleball, starting in spring 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. The sport enjoys strong event attendance and TV viewership, with USA Pickleball reporting that 50,000 people attended and 2.6 million people watched the 2023 National Pickleball Championships.

Sportime Pickleball’s 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, with the goal of being the leading pickleball provider in the Northeast, a market position that the parent company, Sportime Clubs, holds in tennis. Sportime Pickleball has new sites currently under construction in Westbury, New York (opening January 2025), Englewood, New Jersey (opening January 2025), Wayne, NJ (opening spring 2025), and Armonk, New York (opening fall 2025).

“We are excited to bring a state-of-the-art, dedicated pickleball facility to the Yorktown Heights community,” said Claude Okin, President & 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.”

Yorktown Green Shopping Center is anchored by major retailers, including Uncle Giuseppe’s, TJ Maxx, Five Below, and Michael's. Daren Hornig, principal and head of real estate at Sportime Pickleball, explains, “We selected this busy and successful retail location because of the high volume of traffic, which will further support the facility’s use and success. We also believe that Sportime Pickleball will be a great asset to the center.”

Hornig negotiated the Yorktown Center lease for Sportime Pickleball, along with Brian Ripka from RIPCO Real Estate, while Curtis Nassau of RIPCO Real Estate represented the landlord, Oster Properties.

For more information on Sportime Pickleball’s facilities and offerings, email pickleball@sportimeny.com.  To stay updated on the Yorktown location’s opening, please join our email list by clicking here.

In the news:

• Daily Voice - 11/22/24 - Click to read.
• Westfair Business Journal - Click to read.
• Associated Press - 11/19/24 - Click to read.
• REB Business Online - 12/12/24 - Click to read.