Community hub St. Pete Athletic is 'gift to the city' on Florida's gulf coast
Just a glance at the photos of St. Pete Athletic - Paddle & Social makes it easy to see why the facility is generating so much buzz in the Sunshine State.
Spanning 50,000 square feet in the Warehouse Arts District of St. Petersburg, FL, the facility features 14 pickleball courts, two padel courts, six table tennis courts, a restaurant, three bars, a gym, a sauna, a cold plunge, and a fitness studio.
Serial entrepreneur Reuben Pressman conceptualized St. Pete Athletic and brought it to life with the help of Jarrett Sabatini, owner of Intermezzo Coffee and Cocktails, Nathan Stonecipher, co-founder of Green Bench Brewing, and Graham D’Amico, co-owner of Major League Pickleball’s Florida Smash.
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The club officially opened to the public last weekend with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a pickleball tournament, clinics, and a range of wellness activities like yoga and Pilates.
Eight pickleball courts are open now, with six more set to debut in February.
"A lot of work has gone into it, dozens of people being involved," said Pressman, during a recent interview with FOX13. "Our team is nearly 100 staff that we've hired to put the space together. Again, it's great to kind of cap off the initial creation of the project, but now all the work starts to build the programming, bring the community here, make sure the experiences are top-notch and what we want it to be. It feels amazing to finally have the project open for people to see it and be able to experience it."
More than just a place to enjoy America's fastest-growing sport, St. Pete Athletic was built to foster connection.
That means everything to Pressman.
"It's amazing to be able to build something like this as an amenity and a gift to the city, of course, but it's really about bringing the community together and having a space that's so multifaceted," he emphasized. "While we're sold out on memberships, we are open to the public and half our members don't play. They've signed up to be a part of the community aspect, the social club side."
St. Pete Athletic is located at 680 28th Street South in St. Petersburg, just off the Pinellas Trail, and is open daily from 5 a.m. to midnight.
Click here to learn more about the facility.
