The Park City Council designated a 15-acre parcel in Quinn’s Junction as a potential location for a new indoor pickleball facility at its meeting Thursday.
The property was donated to the city as part of Park City Hospital’s master development. The land is near the hospital, ice arena and U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s USANA Center of Excellence.
The council hopes to find a private developer willing to partner with the city to build the new facility.
Park City Councilmember Ryan Dickey said the city will issue a request for proposals as soon as next week.
“So we’re going to go out to the private market and say we have land and invite folks to bid to come actually build a pickleball facility as part of a public-private partnership,” Dickey said. “That's a land lease. That land lease could be for market value, or it could for $1. And then that private partner builds and operates the pickleball facility.”
Park City is using a similar public-private model for the EngineHouse affordable housing project under construction along Homestake Road.
The council wants the new pickleball center to prioritize residents within city limits by offering affordable rates. Dickey said he was surprised Basin Recreation didn’t express interest in partnering with Park City to build the complex.
“If you build a private pickleball facility, you can charge whatever you like, and it might not be affordable for all of town,” he said. “This is going to be a municipal recreation facility in one sense that has to be affordable for local residents. But maybe they have flexibility to charge variable pricing for out-of-town residents to make the economics work, and I think that’s probably where the lever is to make it profitable.”
That means Snyderville Basin residents and others outside the 84060 zip code might have to pay more to play at the new facility.
It’s unclear when the project will return to the council for a vote but Dickey said members would like to move quickly to find a pickleball partner.
