City plans multi-million-dollar pickleball complex at popular Wichita park

City officials are looking to turn Wichita into a regional destination for pickleball, a game that’s growing in popularity, by building a $3 million “Pickleplex” in south Wichita.

The pickleball complex would host regional tournaments and draw new tourism dollars into Wichita, said Troy Houtman, director of parks and recreation. The proposed Pickleplex would be built at South Lakes Park, just north of Campus High School near 55th South and Meridian.

Pickleball shares elements of tennis and badminton, with two, three or four players using paddles to hit a ball that’s similar to a Wiffle ball over a net.

The city recently added nine pickleball courts at the Riverside Tennis Center near downtown and created a special tax district to help build courts at a privately run Chicken N Pickle, but Houtman said there’s still plenty of room for the sport to grow in Wichita.

“It’s gaining a huge amount of popularity here in Wichita,” Houtman said. “There’s a lot of support for adding additional courts. We’ve added nine courts over at Riverside, and it’s still not enough.”

The city is also planning to add pickleball courts at Clapp Park. But no timeline has been set for when that estimated $28 million project will be finished.

“I get calls regularly from a lot of pickleball enthusiasts asking for more courts and lighted courts as well,” he said.

The Wichita City Council last week approved spending $300,000 on a consultant to design the South Lakes Pickleplex. The consultant, which has not been selected, would also develop a master plan to accommodate the other sports that use the park, including football, soccer and softball.

The city plans to spend up to $3 million on the Pickleplex, according to its latest capital improvement plan. The design and master plan will come back to the city council for approval for a final price is determined.

The city envisions a design that includes up to 20 new pickleball courts, which are similar to tennis courts but smaller; a clubhouse; stadium seating surrounding a “championship court;” and bleachers, concession stands and restrooms. Six of the courts would have lighting so players could play after the sun goes down.

South Lakes Park has 15 fields used for soccer and football, but many of the youth leagues have moved to the city’s Stryker Sports Complex at K-96 and Greenwich, where the city has invested millions of dollars in the past several years.

“So now we have a lot of open fields and open space that we need to utilize,” Houtman said of South Lakes, which is one of the largest parks in Wichita at 240 acres.

City Council member Jeff Blubaugh said he has been working to bring the Pickleplex to his district for years and that it should help to offset some of the leagues that moved to Stryker.

“I don’t know of any place we have to play tournament pickleball, so it’s pretty exciting to know we’ll be bringing a lot of people into the city,” Blubaugh said. “I’m looking forward to seeing this and the pickleball community — there’s a lot of people out there with a lot of interest in this and a lot of excitement.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2021 at 4:53 AM.