FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The pickleball craze has taken over South Florida, and now players will have a pickleball headquarters in Fort Lauderdale with the first-of-its-kind pickleball stadium opening this year.
But not everyone is game about the idea.
Eight acres at Snyder Park in Fort Lauderdale will be carved out to build a 43-court pickleball stadium, which some residents say they never even got a chance to vote on.
“I live in South Florida myself. There’s a ton of pickleball here. There’s professional, recreational,” APP Tour Champ Andrei Dăescu said.
The demand for pickleball courts is growing, and construction of the pickleball stadium, called “The Fort,” is already underway.
“This is an area of Snyder Park, which is a gorgeous park as you can see, that has long been, basically just a trash heap where we have taken seaweed and composting, and really not utilized. So we are going to transform this into the first pickleball stadium in the country,” Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Steven Glassman said.
The stadium will be the largest in the nation, offering competitive players open play, clinics, leagues and tournaments.
But opponents of the idea, and some residents, say the city railroaded the project through and took residents by surprise.
“The public was basically in the dark. No one really knew that this public-private partnership was being discussed in the months of June and July. The citizens were robbed of their voice,” Save Snyder Park Chairperson Kevin Chochrane said.
“When all is said and done, and this complex is finished and the lake is restored for water activities, and there’s a little beach again like we used to have more than two decades ago, and when people can grab a little bit of a refreshment and enjoy, I think we’re going to change some minds,” Glassman said.
Last year, a similar battle ensued in the city of Aventura at Founders Park, where the city approved the installation of five new pickleball courts and two tennis courts.
As for the Fort Lauderdale pickleball stadium, construction is already underway and The Fort is set to open in December with a tournament set for the grand opening.