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Twelve pickleball courts planned for Yorktown Green Shopping Center. See when

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Twelve pickleball courts planned for Yorktown Green Shopping Center. See when

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A 30,000-square-foot pickleball center – 12 indoor courts – is planned for a fall 2025 opening in Yorktown Green Shopping Center in Yorktown.

Pickleball, where two or four players use paddles to hit a plastic ball over a net, is said to be the U.S.’s fastest-growing sport, and Sportime Pickleball has a long-term lease for the space in the 335 Downing Drive shopping center in northern Westchester County, a news release said.

The pickleball space is also slated to have two party rooms and a pro shop. Planned are court rentals, group and private instruction and clinics, tournaments, and special events, the release said.

What stores are in Yorktown Green Shopping Center?

It’s the latest sign the shopping center, once forlorn with vacant spaces, is finding new life in the Yorktown Heights hamlet. An Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace supermarket moved into the plaza, in the long-vacant former Food Emporium space, in 2022. And a T.J. Maxx opened this month in the plaza’s former Kmart space. A Michaels and a Five Below are also expected to open.

“We are excited to bring a state-of-the-art, dedicated pickleball facility to the Yorktown Heights community,” Claude Okin, Sportime president and chief executive officer, said in the release. “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.”

When will Sportime Pickleball be hiring in Yorktown Heights?

Sportime Pickleball expects to start hiring, including for a general manager and a pickleball director, in spring 2025.

“It’s quite a turnaround,” Town Board member Sergio Esposito said of the shopping center.

Esposito said the pickleball center doesn’t need have any local board approvals pending, but will need to file for a building permit through the Building Department.

Where else will there be pickleball in New York and New Jersey?

Sportime Pickleball plans 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,” the release said. Its facilities includes ones being built in Westchester’s Armonk, slated to open fall 2025, as well as in Westbury – on Long Island – Englewood and Wayne, N.J.

“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,” said Daren Hornig, Sportime Pickleball principal and head of real estate.

Pickleball participation has increased 223% since 2020, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.Hornig negotiated the Yorktown lease for Sportime Pickleball, along with Brian Ripka, of RIPCO Real Estate, while Curtis Nassau, of RIPCO Real Estate represented landlord Oster Properties, according to the release.Sportime Pickleball is a division of Sportime Clubs, which runs greater New York-area tennis clubs.

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