Pickleball Kingdom Plano Shutdown
Posted by AggressivePack1299@reddit | plano | View on Reddit | 47 comments
Well, it was rebranded to lonestar. They are shut down until further notice. The building has the reconvert into PK but for the time being there is no management or owners
drummybear67@reddit
Not surprised, thet charged like $100/mo for a membership!
ALaccountant@reddit
LOL. More expensive than tennis, and tennis is a better sport.
heifinator@reddit
I mean the nearest indoor tennis facility is a lot more but ok.
I play both and pickleball is not nearly as demanding physically so it’s much more approachable. It’s also a lot more fun as a beginner than tennis is. I don’t get the hate, both are great in their own way.
Fraz0R_Raz0R@reddit
$100 would have been fine, it was $180
NeverGiveUp75013@reddit
Make it a Table Tennis center? Indoor dog park and singles bar. Windhaven is always packed with dogs playing and adults hoping to play.
Realistic-Pay-6931@reddit
Indoor dog park was tried in Dallas. I believe the liability insurance was outrageous to sustain the business.
NeverGiveUp75013@reddit
Remember that about 15 yrs ago in East Dallas. It’s was a bad location and expensive. Like Mutt Cantina in Watters Creek. $10 a day. No outside drinks or food. Only their over priced crap.
The Shacks at Austin Ranch . Could be replicated inside. Food options , bars, dining areas and a free range dog area.
Also similar to HUB 121 in Allen, The Truck Yard in GrandScape, Frisco Rail Yard. Plenty of dogs everywhere. The only differences are they don’t charge for the entry or have off leash space. The profit comes from the food and drinks. People linger and spend. Their real estate cost are much high than an old obsolete grocery store space on an aged retail corner in Central Plano. The city could partner with a vendors. Like an indoor old mall food court or food truck like operations inside. It avoid liability by being a City facility. It would have sovereign immunity. It an excellent opportunity to keep those 4 obsolete retail comers viable. They are way past their community usefulness. It’s just become low rent aging storefronts, an outdated generic unplanned retail set of corners from the 1980s.
Realistic-Pay-6931@reddit
My guess is they will eventually level the buildings and sell the property to a developer some day for more.... ugh... apartments.
NeverGiveUp75013@reddit
Yes, the new state zoning for Plano. Mixed use corners. Little mid rise villages. It will help stabilize the neighborhoods too. Serve the agers in place in single family homes and give future younger families a reason to buy an old house. Similar to what’s happening in Richardson. If your commercial corner aren’t vibrant. No one wants to live near them. Vacant storefronts, out buildings and ugly un landscaped parking lot aren’t desirable. Parking ratios need to be reduced in Central Plano. Those lots will never fill like the new boom years. There are now too many options available.
Delicious_Hand527@reddit
Those are owned by private companies- there's little the city can do, other than offer incentives for redevelopment, but the private firm is spending (mostly) their own money on that center. Hubs in Allen/MckInney are privately owned- they are not city property.
NeverGiveUp75013@reddit
Yes. The only difference in reference to dogs is there is not an off lease area. Yes, market driven but they have been subsidized too. Plano could “own rent” subsidize the dog park square footage. Enabling local businesses of food and drinks to have a constant flow of potential customers a few feet away.
jiacat9@reddit
That’s the corner where Petland used to be. Before Petland shut down we went inside and talked to the manager we would see often. She angrily said that the land owner of that entire corner/complex didn’t want to renew Petland’s lease because they weren’t an “asian business” and he didn’t like all “traffic” from the store. HER words not mine. Years later, I still see not many business’s can seem to survive there. Seems to be a cursed corner.
Realistic-Pay-6931@reddit
Similar attitude to why stores at the NW corner of Coit and Park left the area. Apparently land owner raised rent and pushed non-Asian businesses out of the corner/complex. Wonder if its the same owner?
AdImpossible2298@reddit
Woah, how is that even legal?
Delicious_Hand527@reddit
Petland closed after that - 'not renew the lease' equals not pay the super low rate they were paying. they weren't even there long - they were in the shopping center where Chipotle is now in front of Central Market for a long time, so they were ok at moving for lower rent.
People used to regularly protest in front of their CM (like every weekend) location because they used puppy mills. I don't recall any protests at the Custer location.
williamrageralds@reddit
make it a second trader joes and watch that center come to life again
hamlet_d@reddit
Maybe. They had an Asian grocer there for a while and it went under. The corner has some serious problems with upkeep that need to be resolved before a bigger/more established store will come in there.
There are some noteworthy local restaurants with recurring customers that can do fine there (Eddies, Ruang Thai), but until the landscape and parking lot is redone it's going to be a trap.
tractorcrusher@reddit
So a big expensive building specialized to one specific meme sport that became popular because of the Golden Bachelor a few years ago isn’t doing too well now? Color me surprised.
Turn that shit back into a grocery store.
BlazinAzn38@reddit
It’s stupid expensive too. I was like “might be nice to have a membership because it is fun and surely it can’t be more than like $15 a person.” WRONG I think it was like $120 for a membership
boosted32vee@reddit
Yup, its a fad. Get some real exercise and play tennis.
On a related note, im waiting for Fowling in East plano to go belly up. Its a fun place, but their area with table with a waitress to get food and drink is outrageous. The front area is a decent a price and unlimited but, you have to get your own food and drink.
cometssaywhoosh@reddit
Disagree, don't think it's a fad. I think it might be more popular than tennis in terms of the average person at this point.
BlazinAzn38@reddit
I think we need to look down on pickleball at all, it’s a fun game that basically anyone can pick up in an afternoon and it’s actually pretty decent exercise. I do however believe it’s fine to think that businesses making it their business model is a little crazy. I would imagine we’ll just see normal gyms add in some courts the same way many have basketball and racquetball.
tanyasstre64@reddit
It’s actually great excercise. It also pays pretty well in the professional realm.
tractorcrusher@reddit
Hahaha my wife and I also had the same conversation when it was about to open. She pulled up the pricing and we both laughed so hard.
“Maybe we’ll give it a try…. never mind!”
Ineedfunding007@reddit
Lol
SirWillingham@reddit
The building is too small for a modern grocery store.
RVelts@reddit
Trader Joe's is usually small
tractorcrusher@reddit
Albertsons did it just fine. It was a full size grocery store.
SirWillingham@reddit
So well it hasn’t been an Albertsons in over 10 years. If it was a good location for a grocery store it would still be a grocery store. Nothing brings traffic to a shopping center better than a grocery store.
The market changed, smaller grocery stores can’t turn a profit especially when better options are available.
Delicious_Hand527@reddit
Albertsons got super discounted rent to stay there (I heard about $6k per month) and still did zero upgrades. That was not a sustainable grocery store. Previously the rent for all those places (Petland, Till Tuesday, Childrens Theatre) was super cheap.
MangorTX@reddit
was also Skaggs, Skaggs Alpha Beta, Skaggs Albertsons.
KTCKintern@reddit
I believe they’re shut down because they tried to rebrand and got sued by the franchisee so they have to go back to their old brand.
chadthered@reddit
It’s official, there is a notification in the app about Plano being closed until further notice. This whole thing has been a huge disappointment. We purchased an annual membership for Black Friday that allowed access to Dallas, Plano, and Fort Worth. Dallas was recently closed making Plano much more crowded and who knows when Fort Worth will be open since it is under construction.
Ineedfunding007@reddit
Monthly lease rent got to be up there, 30-40k?
pewpewwww@reddit
Heard $65k
Delicious_Hand527@reddit
$65k? The office I work out of nearby there with over 2000 people is less per month than that.
pewpewwww@reddit
Maybe it was operating costs/mo then but I’ve seen 45k thrown around in a group chat and then I saw a confirmed 65, but that might be total operating
mijo_sq@reddit
Complete rip off. Whoever brokered that deal got good money.
UnluckyAssociate2874@reddit
How big is that building?
pewpewwww@reddit
Not sure the sq ft exactly but there’s like 15 courts plus “locker rooms” in the back and party spaces and partial upstairs area
SirWillingham@reddit
I bet it’s about half of that. Big box stores pay a lot less psf in rent compared to smaller spaces.
Vast_Hyena2443@reddit
I’ve been here since 1979, and that building needs to have a GROCERY STORE, IMO. that is what worked there for many. many years. I was suspended from NextDoor a few years ago when I took a picture of the owners’ “for lease” banner they had up on the building, and posted it on NextDoor, and told everybody to call the phone number and encourage them to do the best they can bring in a RED BLOODED AMERICAN grocery store, because that is what has worked in that location since I have been here. I wasn’t trying to be “un-inclusive” by implying an “American” grocery store, though I know what has worked there for my community here since we’ve been here. They had tried an Asian fish market that flopped and was unsuccessful. The owners have tried to make it to Chinatown. Nothing wrong with Chinese food and a Chinatown architecture, but I don’t think that is what will work in this area, IMO.
YungGuvnuh@reddit
Twas the place I first picked up the paddle. RIP.
Plantersnutz@reddit
If you talk to the actual new owners instead of posting you would know the whole story.
PK was a Ponzi scheme against the franchisees.
SimilaToTheThrilla@reddit
Regardless you still are pretty hard headed if you think a pickleball business is going to be any sort of successful, especially at those membership rates.
pewpewwww@reddit
People are paying even more around the metroplex and rates around here are fractions of some around the nation.
Chuck3457@reddit
That's building is cursed