Price of new city pickleball complex in south Wichita will likely double to $6.15 million
Construction of a 24-court public pickleball complex in south Wichita could begin as early as this summer, but the cost of the project has more than doubled.
The City Council will vote Tuesday on a proposal to allocate another $3.15 million for the South Lakes facility, which would bring the overall price tag to $6.15 million.
Materials and construction costs have gone up since the project was initially approved in fall 2021, Parks Director Troy Houtman told the council at Friday’s agenda review.
“We wanted to make this a really nice pickleball complex, and so we ended up putting a little bit more into it,” Houtman said.
The new price point reflects the addition of four more courts than were originally planned and amenities that Houtman said will make the complex more attractive for hosting tournaments, including lighting for half of the courts to allow night-time play, a clubhouse and family bathrooms and changing rooms.
“Some of the discussion was, do we want to just create opportunities for folks to play pickleball? Or do we want to kind of go all in and create basically a tournament-level high-quality — not just pickleball but a potential economic development-type attraction to bring folks here for these tournaments,” Mayor Brandon Whipple said.
Bryan Frye, who is running against Whipple in this year’s mayoral election, asked Houtman if he had any revenue projections for the pickleball complex.
“With the doubling of the expense, I want to make sure we’ve got the revenue to cover it,” Frye said.
“Make no mistake. I’m for this complex and understand the need and the opportunity it can create. But I just want to make sure we can afford it too.”
Houtman said his department has not generated a projection for the city’s return on investment. The park board has already given its approval to move forward with the more expensive project.
“Until we actually start looking at the tournaments we can bring in and actually create new tournaments, we’re not going to have a strong number,” Houtman said. “But we do know that we need to come up with a revenue stream at that location.”
He said the city made no revenue projections before approving the Scheels Stryker Sports Complex in northeast Wichita, but that it has been successful in attracting national tournaments.
South Lakes Park, at 5300 S. Meridian, was home to the city’s competitive soccer before the Styker complex opened in 2019. The park still has eight softball fields.
Jeff Blubaugh, who represents southwest Wichita’s District 4, said he hopes the new pickleball facility will “act like a catalyst site.”
“Maybe some restaurants, a hotel — something like that to kind of grow that area and fill the void. You know how much soccer used to be played down there on Saturday mornings,” Blubaugh said.
Contributing: Chance Swaim of The Eagle