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\n Pickleball operators and Manhattan retail landlords are hoping to capitalize on increasing demand for the sport from young professionals looking for after-work activities.\n <\/p>\n
They eventually landed on a former office of a financial data company\u00a0that had a large pantry and event space, signing a 37K SF lease this summer at Levin Management Corp.\u2019s 1501 Broadway in Times Square.<\/p>\n
CityPickle’s arduous search shows how difficult it is for purveyors of the buzziest sport in America to find their way into one of the most competitive real estate markets in the country: Manhattan retail<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pickleball, a racquet sport that took off during the pandemic, has been the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. for four consecutive years. Participation is up by 311% since 2022, according to a report<\/a>\u00a0from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.<\/p>\n It is also popular with investors like Marc Lasry, who sold his stake<\/a> in the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023 and then invested in CityPickle, saying that the sport offered<\/a> better returns than the NBA. But\u00a0turning those returns into a reality for New York City landlords is an uphill battle.<\/p>\n Facilities need to span 12K SF at a minimum but would ideally start at around 15K SF, while ceiling heights need to be at least 13 feet, brokers said. Former industrial space in the outer boroughs is a natural fit for those requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n CityPickle\u00a0signed a 10K SF lease<\/a>\u00a0in 2023 at a Long Island City\u00a0industrial building owned by Barone Management for its first NYC location. This summer, Velto Pickleball Club took 14K SF next to a Tesla service center in Red Hook, The Real Deal reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the most demand for space is in the city’s Manhattan core, where options are most limited.<\/p>\n The number of retail availabilities in Manhattan’s prime corridors is down 41% since 2021, and leasing velocity over the past 12 months is at its highest point since the pandemic, according to CBRE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n CBRE<\/a> data provided to\u00a0Bisnow\u00a0found just 57 retail spaces spanning 12K SF or more between 14th and 104th streets that had ceiling heights taller than 13 feet. But\u00a0many of those spaces wouldn’t work for pickleball because of\u00a0column spacing, the need for contiguous space and usage restrictions.<\/p>\n Still, landlords are keen to have pickleball operators as tenants, with a 14K SF lease potentially bringing in as much as $7M a year, brokers told Bisnow.<\/p>\n Young workers\u00a0are increasingly looking to play on their way home from the office, at times that previous generations would have gone to happy hours, said Nick Zilkha, an adviser and part of a Compass<\/a> retail team. Midtown Manhattan has consequently become a priority for operators\u00a0looking for indoor venues.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all started out looking in Manhattan,\u201d he said. \u201cMost people work in Midtown Manhattan, and they are looking to start a place where people can go after work.\u201d<\/p>\n Manhattan\u2019s price tag and space constraints mean would-be players have few options besides CityPickle. Full-service gyms like\u00a0Life Time Fitness<\/a> and Chelsea Piers<\/a> have added courts to some of their facilities because of demand, and they have grown their footprints in Manhattan in recent years.<\/p>\n Besides those options, there are smaller operators, like Pickle1, which\u00a0opened in 5K SF of ground-floor space<\/a> in the Financial District this year, and Hell’s Kitchen Pickleball Club, which\u00a0opened on the seventh floor<\/a> of the Glasshouse Building last year.<\/p>\n CityPickle, partly credited for boosting the sport in the city, has operated dozens of\u00a0seasonal and pop-up courts across the city but struggled to find real estate. Its Times Square location,\u00a0expected to open this fall<\/a>, is its first permanent Manhattan outpost and only its second in the five boroughs.<\/p>\n