The pickleball and padel craze continues to sweep North America and more and more courts are turning up in different places to meet the burgeoning demand.
For example, Fairgrounds Racket Club has partnered with QuadReal Property Group to open two new club locations, starting with Cloverdale Mall in Etobicoke, which opened February 17 with nine pickleball courts, and at Assembly Park in Vaughan, which opens in the near future.
“This partnership couldn’t have come at a better time and really benefits everyone,” said Fairgrounds co-founder Drummond Munro, who grew up playing racquet sports such as competitive badminton, squash and tennis.
“By working with QuadReal, we’re revitalizing unused spaces to become community-building destinations, like Cloverdale and Assembly Park. The whole idea is to make pickleball and padel more accessible to more people and keep up with the growing demand across the country. QuadReal is helping make that a reality.
“We started to see the pickleball craze about six years ago down in the U.S. and year after year it’s become increasingly more popular.”
Fairgrounds was founded in 2022 by a team of Canada’s top forward-thinking entrepreneurs that includes Matt Rubinoff, founder of Stackt Market and Munro, co-founder of Superette.
Munro said Fairgrounds democratizes racquet sports by removing the exclusive membership and initiation fees of more traditional clubs. Each public location allows people of all ages and levels to play at an hourly rate with free membership, making pickleball and padel inclusive and available to the entire community. Beyond the courts, the Fairgrounds facilities will include food and beverage options with branded merchandise available for purchase.
“Not only is pickleball entering the cultural conversation, it’s actually more accessible to build. It’s easier to play. More people can play it. It’s not as hard to build as a tennis court,” said Munro.
“This all started with a pop up two summers ago at Yonge and Eglington. And for us we were sort of testing the waters to see if there is demand. We knew pickleball was blowing up in the U.S. but it hadn’t really entered Canada in a meaningful way. And after two months, it was oh we’re onto something here. How do we service this need?”
Munro said the Assembly Park location will have nine pickleball courts and one padel court. That will open at the beginning of March and will be outdoor in a bubble.
“We are working on locations in Calgary, Hamilton, and there’s conversations going in Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, that I think we’re going to get open for this year along with a few downtown Toronto locations,” he said.
Munro said the courts can be launched in a number of different locations. The shopping centre also makes a lot of sense as a community hub where mall owners are offering amenities and experiences.
“We’re also looking at where density is. Where can we offer this amenity where people are under-served with public amenities? Really, there’s no specific formula but I think this type of experiential offering in a mall will go a long way,” he added.
“It makes a lot of sense. It checks all the boxes. The human connection. It’s wellness. It’s activity and it’s really easy to play. And I don’t think we’ve had a sport come along that checks all those boxes in a really long time. So I don’t think it’s a fad. I think this growth is going to continue. And the reason we position ourselves as a public racquet club is yes the focus is very much on pickleball right now but we can very easily expand into badminton, padel, outdoor squash, tennis. Besides community rec centres and private clubs, there hasn’t been a lot of opportunities for people to build community around that sport.”
QuadReal, a global real estate management, investment and development company, worked with Fairgrounds to create an immersive, community-focused environment in each location that complements existing community amenities and programming. The partnership also helps revitalize and re-imagine spaces using sustainable development practices, while incorporating the latest technology to enhance the visitor experience, blending physical and digital elements.
“At QuadReal, we are committed to building communities where people want to live, work, shop and grow,” said Aaron Knight, Senior Vice President of Development and lead on the Cloverdale Mall redevelopment project.
“By establishing community focused partnerships, we can provide unique experiences at our buildings and enhance the ways members of the community engage with and connect in our spaces. We are thrilled to be supporting the incredibly popular sports of pickleball and padel alongside Fairgrounds at both Cloverdale Mall and Assembly Park.”
