CLEVELAND — A new pickleball facility is scheduled to open in June of 2024, offering both indoor and outdoor courts, and a place to grab a bite to eat. The facility is at the end of Crossburn Avenue in the Jefferson-Puritas neighborhood of Cleveland, in a building which sat vacant for decades.
The Euerle Group, the real estate holding company for the property, took over the building in November of 2022. Fixing up the building was quite an effort, according to Robert Euerle, owner of the Euerle Group.
“It’s been a project of just going through and cleaning up, removing trees, saplings, debris – a thousand yards of debris,” he said. “It’s an incredible amount of trash we took out of here.”
Now, the building is empty, and will be home to 10 or 11 indoor pickleball courts, plus a possible five outdoor courts.
“Picture a nice busy Friday night,” he said. “We have leagues, tournaments, open play, food trucks. Maybe we’ll be serving, maybe we won’t, we’ll see from there, but definitely serving up a game of pickleball.”
Euerle said pickleball can be an activity all age groups can enjoy, and said with its growing popularity across the country, this facility will bring the excitement to Northeast Ohio.
"It's out west, it's down south, it's just not here yet, so we want to be on the forefront of pickleball and get the sport really pumped in Cleveland,” he said. “We're going to do it by having the largest pickleball facility on the west side of Cleveland, so we're super excited."
Also excited is Ward 16 councilman Brian Kazy, who said he was doing “backflips” when he heard someone was interested in the vacant building, which sits on the end of the street in a residential neighborhood.
“The only reason to come through here is either to pass through, going from Brook Park to downtown, or if there’s a reason to stop,” Kazy said. “And this is going to give them a reason to stop, that’s why this is going to become a destination spot for the whole city of Cleveland, and really Northeast Ohio.“
Kazy said the neighborhood is excited about the project, and said this kind of attraction will be a point of pride.
According to Kazy, the City of Cleveland gave the Euerle Group an economic development package of $150,000. Euerle said in all, the project will cost about $1 million, and create 15 new jobs.
“It’s a part that if you don’t know about it, you don’t come down here,” Kazy said of the neighborhood. “We’re doing a lot of work along West 130th as well trying to redevelop that, and this is just the kickstart for something bigger to come.”
Euerle said the hope is to open the facility in the next 90-120 days, with a goal of June. He said they may pre-sell memberships in May.