Pickleball club coming to downtown Spokane

Pickleball is America’s fastest-growing sport and six indoor courts in downtown Spokane are expected to help satisfy the growing demand.

Cowles Real Estate aims to open the Press Pickleball Club in late November at the former Spokesman-Review production facility, 1 N. Monroe St., said Rita Koefod, director of marketing at Cowles Real Estate.

Cowles Real Estate is a subsidiary of Cowles Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review.

The production facility moved its newspaper’s print publishing operations to Spokane Valley in 2020, leaving the Monroe Street space vacant.

Koefod said former production and associated office spaces in the building have been subdivided and leased to tenants, but the area where the courts are being installed has not been in use since the newspaper press moved.

“When the press moved out to Spokane Valley, it gave us an opportunity to look at that space and find a creative use for it,” Koefod said. “We wanted to repurpose it, and we know how pickleball is booming in the area and across the country, and it felt like a great concept that would bring people together.

“It’s a very social sport.”

An estimated 36.5 million Americans played pickleball at least once between August 2021 and August 2022, based on a participation study by the Association of Pickleball Professionals and the YouGov analytics firm.

Pickleball, which combines badminton, table tennis and tennis, became Washington’s official state sport last year.

Spokane has 17 pickleball courts – mostly shared-use with tennis across five parks at A.M. Cannon, Comstock, Sky Prairie, Mission and Peaceful Valley, according to a Spokesman-Review story this summer.

The city is building two pickleball courts at Corbin Park and plans to build three at Underhill Park next year.

Koefod said the name of the new pickleball club pays tribute to the printing press that ran for over a century downtown.

The six pickleball courts are under construction and will be accompanied by men’s and women’s locker rooms.

Dry Fly Distilling, a bar, restaurant and gift shop, operates on Riverside Avenue and Monroe Street in the same building as the pickleball club.

Pat Donovan, co-owner of Dry Fly Distillery, said he is looking forward to the club’s opening.

“We’re excited,” Donovan said. “I mean, anything that will bring more people to the building and our area is a good thing.”

Donovan said Dry Fly will add discounts or incentives to guests at the pickleball club.

Koefod said the club has been gathering feedback from the community about what types of memberships, play and leagues residents would like to see at the club.

A community survey link is available at the club’s website, www.presspickleball.com.

Membership rates and structures will be set in the next couple weeks, she said.

Koefod said guests will be able to book reservations through the CourtReserve application, which she said is used by many pickleball players and clubs.

The club is working on parking options for players.