St. Pete Athletic’s opening benefits the surrounding area

City leaders, top-ranked pickleball pros and dozens of local stakeholders celebrated St. Pete Athletic formally opening to the public Saturday. However, the self-billed urban country club’s impact extends far beyond the facility.

The 50,000-square-foot social and paddle club replaced a long-vacant warehouse at 680 28th St. S. Mayor Ken Welch noted that the South St. Petersburg Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) would directly benefit from a significant increase in property tax collections.

St. Pete Athletic (SPA) also employs 90 people and will host a nationally televised pickleball tournament in June. Welch, who played a friendly game Saturday with co-founder Reuben Pressman, Councilmember Copley Gerdes and Chris Steinocher, CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, said the club helps honor promises made when local leaders established the CRA.

“That’s what we have here at St. Pete Athletic – a place that brings people together, promotes a healthy living and adds to the local economy,” Welch said. “It takes vision, it takes persistence and a real belief in our community to make that happen.”

Mayor Ken Welch (left) joined Reuben Pressman, operations manager at St. Pete Athletic, for his first game of pickleball.

SPA is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Reuben Pressman, the club’s operations manager. He enlisted 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, to help bring the vision to life.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening weekend featured professional exhibitions, youth pickleball clinics, competitive tournaments, live podcast recordings, a courtside DJ and jazz performances. Rose’s Dining and Drinks, the facility’s restaurant and bar concept, debuted new menu items.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot, mascot Raymond and Tampa Bay Lightning mascot Thunderbug also showcased their skills on one of SPA’s eight current – six more are on the way – pickleball courts.

Highlighting the club’s diverse offerings to members and the public was the overarching goal. Pressman, pointing to the number of attendees, said, “This is the reason we built this. It was for the community.”

“Pickleball is just a catalyst,” he added. “The dream of this came from what made pickleball so successful … How it brings people together, it’s accessible and it allows anyone to have fun.”

SPA has sold over 800 memberships, the current limit. Welch noted that St. Petersburg already boasted the nation’s second-most pickleball courts per capita.

Pressman said a “huge waitlist” underscores the local demand for a club that caters to everyone. Steinocher called it a “love story” written by local entrepreneurs and investors.

He noted SPA’s proximity to the Pinellas Trail, which is “where St. Pete is going to grow.” The area is also home to “one of the coolest art collectives” and the “largest circuit board manufacturer east of the Mississippi River.”

“How many things can you have in just one place?” Steinocher said of the Warehouse Arts District. “That’s St. Petersburg, Florida.”

SPA commissioned Elizabeth Bonert, creative & outreach director for the Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, to create five bird sculptures that now hang from the ceiling around Rose’s. She said each roseate spoonbill took approximately 80 hours to complete.

Several area artists will profit from a wall of art-adorned pickleball paddles. Gerdes called the club “authentically St. Pete.”

“This is St. Pete,” Gerdes said. “When you walk in, you feel welcome. When you come into the city, you feel the same way. You may have never experienced it before, but you know it’s St. Pete. And that’s what this is.”

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot (back, right), mascot Raymond (back, left) and Thunderbug, the Tampa Bay Lighting’s mascot, put on a show for the crowd.

The CRA, rather than the citywide general fund, will benefit from the area’s tax base increasing due to the club. SPA, as Steinocher alluded, will likely also foster additional growth.

Several thousand people will attend a professional pickleball tournament from June 18-21. Its economic impact will benefit the entire city, and a national broadcast will highlight St. Petersburg.

After the event, Sabatini said a “few hundred” names are on the membership waiting list. Those could encompass couples, families and companies, which would exponentially increase the number of people vying for members-only perks.

The current pause in new memberships allows SPA’s founders to discern how and when people use the facility. Sabatini said initial data shows that roughly 50% “don’t even play pickleball.”

He designed the club’s food and beverage program to be a “driving force” that competes with the best restaurants in Tampa Bay. “They just want to be part of a country club experience,” Sabatini said of members and now, the public.

“Because St. Pete doesn’t have anything like this.”

St. Pete Athletic features 14 pickleball courts, 2 padel courts, table tennis, a fitness studio, coworking space, a podcast room, three bars and an on-site restaurant, Rose’s, at 680 28th St. S. in St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District.