A sprawling social club centering on racquet sports — the ubiquitous pickleball and rising padel, a blend of tennis and squash — is making its way to downtown L.A. next summer.
With the cheeky name Ballers, the club will be housed in the former Macy’s building at The Bloc, which spans 100,000 square feet. It will be equipped with 18 pickleball courts and four padel courts — marking the first pickleball and padel courts to open in the DTLA area, according to the founders. The club will also feature five golf simulators, two soccer pitches, a high-end retail shop, two full bars, a restaurant and a recovery zone outfitted with a sauna and cold plunge area.
Membership packages for the social sports club will start at $99 per month and come with perks such as advanced booking windows, access to the recovery lounge and invites to exclusive events. Nonmembers will still be welcome to enjoy the social spaces and book courts for fees between $15 to $25 per hour.
“[We wanted] to bring the country club to the city in an elevated, fun way,” said Ballers CEO David Gutstadt.
Ballers L.A. will be the third Ballers location — the first will debut in Philadelphia later this month and the second will open in Boston later this year. The founders, who are behind hospitality projects like the Fitler Club and Equinox Hotels, have plans to expand to 50 locations across the country within the next seven to 10 years. Ballers has received financial backing from an all-star roster of professional athletes including tennis icons Andre Agassi, Kim Clijsters and Sloane Stephens, pickleball champion Connor Garnett and 76ers star Tyrese Maxey.
Earlier this year, Macy’s at the Bloc was deemed one of the retailer’s “underproductive” locations and closed its doors, leaving downtown L.A. without a department store for the first time in over 150 years. This evolution of the space follows a trend of retail stores transforming into “experiential” spaces — companies are tapping into consumers’ hunger for communal experiences and new hobbies. In 2023, indoor pickleball venue Pickle Pop opened in Santa Monica, in part to try to revive ailing Third Street Promenade.
When designing Ballers’ Los Angeles club, co-founder and chief creative officer Amanda Potter said it was important that the venue be accessible in location and price so that anyone could visit and try the racquet sports.
In addition to sports offerings, the venue will feature a restaurant and two full bars.
(Ballers)
While the popularity of pickleball has skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic, Potter said not everyone is familiar with it, citing a 2023 study by the Association of Pickleball Professionals which found that less than 10 percent of Angelenos had tried the sport that year. “It’s a sport that people are still getting acquainted with, so we don’t want to have that barrier to people trying our sports by saying it’s members-only,” Potter said.
Garnett, who started playing pickleball about three years ago, said he was eager to become involved with the Ballers’ project.
“You don’t have to be great at pickleball to come out here,” he said. “You don’t have to be great at padel. It’s just really an inclusive way to get people active and on their feet.”
While there is no set opening date for Ballers L.A., the founders say it will launch in the late summer of 2026.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
