A new pickleball facility called The Wicked Pickle is coming to South Portland.
The Wicked Pickle has leased a 25,500 square-foot facility scheduled to break ground this month. The location is at 2401 Broadway in South Portland. Tony Miner, the entrepreneur behind this new business states, “It’ll be really cool place where people can just come and relax and play some pickleball.” Miner, a former baseball star, currently coaches softball at Thornton Academy in Saco as well as coaching baseball. Miner is hoping that the facility will give pickleball players an easier way to enjoy the sport in the harsh winter months.
The pickleball craze has recently boomed in the last few years. It is the country’s fastest-growing sport with close to 9 million people paying the game nationwide. Invented in 1965 as a children’s backyard game, pickleball is played with a baseball sized wiffle ball and is described as a mix between tennis, ping-pong and badminton. Pickleball is very user friendly, being slower paced, since there is less ground to cover. It’s easier to learn than tennis. It’s a sport all ages can enjoy and can be as competitive or as casual as you want!
The Wicked Pickle facility will be equipped with six professional courts and two practice courts. It will also include a full-service bar with beer and wine, as well as a smoothie bar and lounge area. Miner states that with a brand-new building, “we can pretty much do whatever we want.” So, stay tuned for more updates on the facility and what they will offer!
Andrew Ingalls of Malone Commercial Brokers brokered the lease. “It’s the weirdest thing, this pickleball phenomenon,” Ingalls states. “My wife and I are one of three couples in Cape Elizabeth who don’t play pickle ball. We feel like outcasts.”
Get your paddles ready, because Wicked Pickle aims to open by November 1st this year!
Read the full MaineBiz article HERE!