Kevin J Berk and Brett Warner, founders of PURE Pickleball & Padel, plan to build the world’s largest indoor pickleball facility in Arizona. Here’s what they shared with ABC15 about the massive project in the works.
“Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the country. [In the] last four years, one out of five Americans played it last year. There is no hotter community for playing this sport than Scottsdale, Arizona, and so building the largest indoor pickleball facility in Scottsdale makes sense. Being the host site for national-level tournaments is part of the plan, and we're going to be showcasing the sport for all ages, all skill levels, all the way up to the pros, and will be the home of the AZ Drive Pro Team for Major League Pickleball,” said Warner.
According to its founders, the facility aims to be a pickleball country club-like facility for the Valley.
“We'll have all the amenities you would imagine of a country club. So, we will have retail, we'll have a restaurant, [a] bar, we'll have exercise and fitness equipment and recovery, locker rooms with Jacuzzi, red light, sauna, cold plunge. We'll have childcare. We'll have a youth study room so parents can literally drop their kids off after school, they can grab a bite to eat, go upstairs, [and] do their homework,” said Berk, who added that there will also be special event spaces. “We’ll have a dedicated VIP card key access-only room on the second floor and we'll have a special rooftop bar that can accommodate approximately 400 people, it [has] incredible views of the McDowell's on the east side and then on the west side of Camelback Mountain.”
So, where is this massive building going to be built?
“We are right off the [Loop] 101 and Via de Ventura, basically between the aquarium and Top Golf. So, in a very large sports and entertainment-focused district,” said Berk.
The building is said to have 48 pickleball courts and two will be 'padel' courts.
“Padel is the fastest growing sport in the world. It is a racket sport. It is played on a court about the size of an enclosed pickleball court, so perfect for our facility,” said Warner who added that bringing these courts showcases another sport that’s growing drastically internationally.
“They're all individually fenced. They have a cushioned underlayment and then [an] acrylic topcoat so you can't feel it, the cushioning part of it, but it's easier on your joints, so you can play longer and recover faster. They will have broadcast-level indirect lighting on all the courts. Cameras on the courts, if you want to record your match or overlay analytics-you can do that. During large events [and] tournaments, we can [open] the pipes to every court so you can follow your favorite player no matter what court they're playing on. You can watch them, right now, that is unheard of- it's never been done. So, the player experience is truly the center of the universe,” explained Berk.
The massive project plans to be the largest indoor facility in Arizona, the country, and beyond.
“It will be the largest indoor pickleball facility in the world. So, no one has ever built a facility at this scale, at least at this time and [there's] a reason for that too, like the accolade or the title of being the largest indoor facility is not important to us. It's really the reason why it's the largest, [… the] programming being this is a membership-based facility, program-driven,” explained Berk. “So, the after-school classes the Youth Academy, members observing courts we’ll have eight open play slash challenge courts, so anybody can drop in at any time. We can do this all at the same time at scale. There's no other indoor facility in the world that can compete with that, and that's really important.”
“I would add to that, […] what's exciting about PURE and why we're building this at the exact spot that we're building it, it's that we're going to be able to host national level events, where our indoor facility of 48 courts can flex to 60 courts, where you can build 12 outdoor temporary and then a 5000 seat temporary stadium,” said Warner.
According to Berk and Warner, PURE Pickleball & Padel is slated to break ground in 2025 and with a projection of opening in 2026.
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