The Town of Essex is exploring a private-public partnership on the site of the future Essex Sports Park that's expected to aid in the development of the property.
The town announced Wednesday that a private-public partnership is being explored with Picklebarn Inc. for the development of a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art pickleball complex.
Picklebarn would be developed on eight acres of the multi-use outdoor sport and recreation complex planned for the corner of Batten Side Road and North Malden Road in Essex.
The proposal comes after the town issued a Request for Interest to gauge interest in the private use of a portion of the land within the designated 70-acre parcel set aside for the Essex Sports Park, which will include baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and tennis courts.
Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy says they have deficits when it comes to baseball diamonds and soccer fields, and with the expansion of Highway 3, the town is losing some of its sports fields due to the road realignment.
Bondy says pickleball is so popular, but they only have three tennis courts in each end of the municipality, shared tennis-pickleball courts.
"People are always fighting for court time, so this is a great example of how we can come together, save our taxpayers some money, and provide more sports amenities to our community," she says.
"For us to get our hydro and water over there. When times are tough in municipalities, we focus on core infrastructure, like roads and bridges, and programs. So this allows us to have some financial help here," she says.
Bondy says they are developing the sports park in phases, and hope to be able to use the soccer fields in 2025.
"We are looking to apply for the next grant that the Ministry of Sports and Culture is putting out. We're trying to see how best we can get the rest of it developed," she says. "We will be meeting with user groups to see if there's naming rights out there. But this is a huge stable tenant that will give us taxes and up front money from the purchase of the land to invest back into the park."
The Picklebarn proposal would feature 16 professional indoor pickleball courts, four padel courts, one indoor tennis court, a fitness facility, a juice and coffee bar, a bar and restaurant, along with ten additional outdoor pickleball courts.
The concept proposal is currently under review from town administration.
Once approved, construction of the facility could begin later this year with the goal of being completed by September or October of 2025.