Courtesy Legacy Sports Holdings
By Christine Graf
New York-based Legacy Sports Holdings has announced plans to open an indoor and outdoor pickleball facility in Ballston Spa.
Located at 4 McCrea Hill Road, Legacy Pickleball Club will be situated on four acres of property that the company purchased for $2.7 million. The site includes a 20,000-square-foot warehouse, one previously occupied by Mullin Moving and Storage.
The warehouse will house eight indoor pickleball courts, a locker room, a lounge area with a bar that serves beer and wine, and a pro shop. Legacy Pickleball Club will have both indoor and outdoor courts.
The location was chosen after plans to construct Legacy Pickleball Club on Route 9, across from the Malta Drive-In, were abandoned. The facility would have been located adjacent to townhouses that are being built by builder Anthony Caruso.
Michael Xirinachs, Legacy Pickleball Club general manager, said there was also some concern about being located so close to a residential neighborhood. In some parts of the country, homeowners are lodging complaints about noise generated by early-morning pickleball players.
“The group didn’t want to spend $4 million, build it, and end up in litigation with the duplex owners. So, we made the executive decision to forgo that piece of land and look for another location,”he said.
Xirinachs said there will ultimately be “15 to 20 outdoor courts, and we will build them in a way that will be later enclosed in a 40,000-45,000 square foot building. Eight to 10 of the courts will remain outdoor courts, and six courts should be ready for play by mid-August,” said Xirinachs.
Although the Ballston Spa location will be Legacy Sports Holding’s first dedicated pickleball facility, the company plans to build several more throughout the northeast.
According to Xiranchs, a resident of Saratoga, several members of the investment company live locally. They chose Saratoga County as the site for their flagship location after recognizing that the area was in need of a dedicated indoor pickleball facility. While there are indoor pickleball courts in the area, most are on courts that serve multiple purposes.
“When the weather gets cold and you can’t play outside, you are relegated to an indoor facility which is typically a wood gym floor with many different lines for basketball and volleyball. You have to use a different ball, and it’s a totally different game. So, after you have spent six months honing your outdoor skills, you now have to go and change your entire game only to go back outside again,” he said.
The indoor and outdoor courts at Legacy Pickleball Club will be built using a seven-layer cushion court system. The cushion system plays as if it is an outdoor court but is easier on the joints.
Construction is expected to be underway by early July, and if all goes as planned, the club will open in September.
“We will be ready for upcoming fall/winter season,” said Xirinachs. “It’s going to be the premier indoor facility in the northeast. We expect to attract folks from Albany, Latham, Colonie and even as far away as Lake George and Fort Ann. This is a great demographic with a great pickleball population. People love pickleball because it can be as competitive as you want or as social as you want. I think that appeals to a lot of folks. It’s a way to get a great workout, have fun, and meet people. It’s a very social sport.”
Legacy Pickleball Club will have an initial staff of between five and 10 full-time employees with Pete Bogarczuk as the inhouse pro in charge of lessons and leagues. The club will operate under a membership driven model, with non-members paying more to reserve a court. Online reservations will be available.
Its website is www.legacypbclub.com.