Championship purpose-built pickleball courts and a wellness centre may soon be coming to Northern Beaches Business Park, the former Roche industrial complex in Cromer.
Discover and Evolve Enterprises submitted an almost $1 million development application (DA) for 12 indoor pickleball courts and a wellness centre at Unit 10, 4-8 Inman Road, Cromer, with proposed opening hours of 6am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday.
“It’s quite challenging to find an appropriate space to fit the sport for indoor use,” Michael Boss, a director at the company tells Manly Observer.
“You need a warehouse that is column free, you need high ceilings, you need it to be accessible with car parking options. A lot of companies are retrofitting old office buildings, but that’s mainly for recreational use.
“But this space will be like the Rod Laver Tennis Arena in Melbourne, but for pickleball. It’ll be the first of its kind – a proper, premium, big indoor facility.”
He adds pickleball is not only hard to play in temperamental weather, but outdoor courts become slippery when wet, which is another draw card for indoor courts. The building where the DA is lodged is in the same complex as Bounce, Carlisle Swimming, Precision Golf, Anytime Fitness, Feels Pilates Cromer, Rumble Boxing and more.
“Normally, you put in a DA and you’re waiting for people to contest it, but what we’re seeing is people, pickleball and tennis players, being really supportive of the project and constantly asking when it’s going to be up and running,” Michael says.
The main issue with pickleball is the noise (of the ball hitting the rackets, not the chatter between players). However, Michael explains that because of the complex being far from residential properties, like-minded sports-centre neighbours and the fact that the courts will be indoor and they can trap the noise – it shouldn’t be a problem.
If all goes well with the DA and construction, the aim is to have The Courtyard open on 1 March 2026.
“Pickleball has this stereotype of being an old person sport, but what we’re seeing now is kids and families playing the sport,” Michael explains to us.
“Our priority is about giving everyone, of any age or ability, a space to be active, health and have fun.”
Pickleball on the Beaches
Pickleball is a growing sport, not only in Australia, but across the Beaches.
Northern Beaches Pickleball Association (NBPA) has over 1,700 members and they’re the biggest Pickleball club in Australia. Michael says the club grows by 100 members a month.
“We always follow American trends in sport, but the biggest reason pickleball is gaining popularity is accessibility,” he explains.
“It’s just easy to play; it’s social. You can fit four pickleball courts on a tennis court, so you’re closer to each other and you can easily have a chat.
“The court size also means kids can play, as well as older adults who can’t move that well.
“And you can also become really good at it, but that takes time and skill. So, it’s a sport that suits everyone.”
The hardest part, Michael adds, is learning how to score. We hear that if you lose 11 – 0, you’ve been pickled.
If you’re not into pickleball, there’s always the wellness centre
The DA includes a wellness and recreation centre, which will offer a variety of therapy and treatment services with four plunge pools, three saunas and three treatment rooms (compression therapy, intravenous therapy and a hyperbaric chamber room).
Michael explains they will team up with P3 recovery, a company dedicated to ‘creating facilities to help prevent and recover from injury’ and are an ‘inclusive health and wellbeing space for anyone’.
“We are very like-minded in terms of wanting a premium facility, caring about and wanting to provide high care to our customers and having really good knowledge of the target audience,” he adds.
The wellness area is proposed to be open from 6am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday.
Up on the mezzanine level, Michael hopes to build a lounge for corporate function days or birthday parties, with a small pro-shop tucked in the corner.
He will also explore options for a food truck.
Who are Discover and Evolve Enterprises?
Discover Sports Group and Evolve Tennis have combined forces to pool their resources and knowledge to develop tennis and pickleball facilities across NSW. Evolve Tennis is well-known on the Northern Beaches with both tennis and pickleball facilities.
“I’m actually the new addition to the group,” Michael says.
“There are six directors, and we’ve all been coaches or players. We all have our own businesses, and we’ve always wanted to do something together because it just made sense being in the same industry.
“The barriers to getting something like The Courtyard up and running are quite challenging, so we pooled our resources to create venues like these.”
If The Courtyard is a success, there may be future indoor pickleball courts across Australia.
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