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The local franchise owner for a Maryland-based indoor pickleball venue operator plans to open its first two centers in Montgomery County later this year.
Andrew Wakefield, who with his father last year reached an agreement to be a regional developer of Dill Dinkers sites in Chester and Montgomery counties, has entered into lease deals for vacant building space in Lansdale and Hatboro.
The Lansdale lease is for 37,000 square feet in Velocity Station at 1180 Church Road, a site that was once a Merck training facility. Other tenants in the building include a moving company, gymnastics equipment manufacturer and an indoor gym.
The Lansdale Dill Dinkers site is expected to open in July and have 11 courts.
Wakefield has also signed a 48,000-square-foot lease in Hatboro's Station Park, a mixed-used commercial building at 330 Warminster Road. It previously housed a Vicks manufacturing plant up until the mid-1990s. Dill Dinkers will join other tenants including a children's apparel company, solar energy company, day care center and gymnastics club there.
The Hatboro site is scheduled to open in September and "could handle up to 20 courts, but we haven't decided how many we will have just yet," Wakefield told the Business Journal.
They are also considering a training center at the Hatboro location that would have programs for adults and children.
"We'd also like to host professional-level tournaments," Wakefield said. "Long-term, we'd like to get a pro team that would have their home court [at the Hatboro center]."
Specific membership pricing for the sites is still being finalized but discounted early bird memberships for both centers will be available later this year.
Wakefield worked with Velocity Venture Partners, a Bala Cynwyd-based industrial real estate developer and investment firm, to find both sites. He said they chose these particular locations because "both sites matched the demographics we were looking for."
Those factors included high housing densities, high household incomes and the absence of competitive indoor pickleball complexes nearby.
While neither indoor pickleball site has been built out yet, Wakefield said the start-up cost for both centers is expected to be about $500,000. The Wakefields have already recruited two pickleball enthusiasts to be minority partners for the Lansdale center and are actively searching for minority partners for the Hatboro site.
"We're willing to sell up to a 20% stake," he said. "We'd be looking for a six-figure investment."
As a regional developer of Dill Dinkers, operators are charged an initial franchise fee of $50,000 and 8% continuing royalty of sales. The typical total required investment for opening a Dill Dinkers is estimated by the company at between $325,000 and $765,000.
Wakefield said in addition to opening the two centers in Hatboro and Lansdale, he and his father will be selling franchise rights for another dozen indoor pickleball centers in the two suburban Philadelphia counties they control. Wakefield said they recently signed their first franchise operator, whose identity is being kept confidential at this time, and are in the process of identifying a site for that individual's center.
A high school tennis player who grew up in the Lehigh Valley, Wakefield was introduced to pickleball — a game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong — last year when a friend invited him to play. "I tried it and really liked it, but I didn't think it would become a major part of my life. Then, after I played three or four times, I really got hooked."
His father is also a fan of the sport and plays at the complex where he lives in California.
While visiting a friend, Wakefield had the opportunity to play at a Dill Dinkers facility in Maryland and enjoyed the experience. He became interested when he heard Dill Dinkers was looking for additional investors and selling franchise opportunities. He talked it over with his father and they decided to team up and become regional developers.
The sport has rapidly grown in popularity in recent years and gained a foothold locally. Last year saw several new indoor pickleball centers open throughout Greater Philadelphia, including Bounce Pickleball in Malvern. In New Jersey, Players Courtyard Pickleball Club opened a location in Moorestown, Proshot Pickleball came online in Egg Harbor Township and Pickle Juice opened a facility in Ventnor Heights. Pickle Juice expects to open a second center in Blackwood this year.
Additionally, Atlanta-based Ace Pickleball is set to open its first Philadelphia-area club in Voorhees this year. Another franchiser, Arizona-based Pickleball Kingdom, plans to open as many as 20 locations in central New Jersey and Bucks County over the next few years.
