Pickleball is a sport that’s exploding in popularity across the country, according to Susan Turner, director of Peak Health and Wellness Center.
So much so that the fitness center has announced plans for a $3 million, 19,400-square-foot addition to its Racquet Club building at 4990 Buckhouse Lane in Missoula.
“This new addition may include space for pickleball, tennis and basketball courts and an ultramodern sports performance training center,” Turner said. “(This will allow) Peak to evolve and adapt to the ever-changing needs of our members.”
Played using paddles, pickleball is a combination of ping-pong, tennis and badminton.
“Pickleball is one of the sports that’s sweeping the nation,” Turner said.
Right now, it’s unclear whether the surface material needed for pickleball will be compatible for basketball courts, so the basketball courts might get ditched in favor of pickleball. Turner said because so many people like to play pickleball, especially indoors in the winter, the few courts already at the Peak are almost always booked up.
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The new space, which will have a 32-foot ceiling, will be constructed using a clear span technique so there won’t be pillars or beams inside supporting the roof except for at the corners.
“The center will meet the needs of athletes and active people of all ages,” Turner said.
The anticipated completion date is December of 2022, barring any supply chain issues.
Charlie Eiseman, one of the owners of the Peak in Missoula, said they started talking about the expansion way back in 2018 and were going to start in 2020.
“And then we had COVID, so we backed away and then here we go again,” he said. “So we’re gonna get it done this time.”
The expansion will have six pickleball courts, and those overlay the tennis courts.
“With everything we read nationally and what we’re hearing from other (fitness centers), there’s going to be huge demand for pickleball,” he said. “We’ve already got pretty good demand for that.”
Turner said that when they open up new time slots for pickleball, they’re booked within minutes.
“The demand is there and there were some places around town renting space that are no longer doing that,” she said. “So demand has just grown. It’s everyone from college-age to people all the way up in their 80s. We have three Missoula local people that left (in December) for nationals. Three people that play here at the club.”
The new expansion will also include a space for Alpine Physical Therapy’s fourth location, where they’ll provide therapy to the Peak’s roughly 9,000 members.
“This location will primarily focus on sports medicine and working with athletes of all ages,” Turner said. “Alpine will offer the same expert physical therapy services as at their other locations including functional dry needling, instrumented-assisted soft tissue mobilization, overuse injury management, post-concussion and post-operative care.”
The expansion also means the Peak will add what Turner calls “an ultra-modern sports performance training center” with weight machines and other tools.
There’s another addition happening in the Racquet Club building in early 2022.
A local company called ATEN Recovery Labs is opening a new health and wellness business inside. Turner called it a state-of-the-art anti-aging and recovery center that will provide wellness therapies.
“Some of the wellness modalities will include cryotherapy, infrared saunas, contrast cold and hot pools, red light therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, compression therapy, oxygen therapy, intravenous nutritional therapy, micronutrient blood testing with custom supplementation and more,” she said.
For example, athletes can use a machine to reduce the amount of oxygen they get to simulate high-altitude training.
The new additions and expansion have everything to do with member feedback, Eiseman said.
“We’re just listening to our members at this point,” he said.