Adam Kahn sold Meadow Creek Tennis Club to focus on 3rd Shot Pickleball, a business he launched last year. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Change is coming to a private tennis club in Lakewood that has operated since 1973.
Blame pickleball.
Last month, Adam Kahn, who had owned the club for two decades, sold it in order to focus on his 3rd Shot Pickleball, a business he launched last year.
“The growth of pickleball has taken over tennis courts,” Kahn said.
The club and its real estate at 6305 W. 6th Ave. in Lakewood sold for $3 million last month, according to public records. The 60,000-square-foot facility on about 3 acres has 10 tennis courts — three outdoor and seven indoor — and roughly 600 members, as well as two platform heated tennis courts and a full gym.
Ian Hintz, who bought the club, started working at Meadow Creek in 2017, operating the platform tennis program. He also ran the racquet sports program at Denver Country Club for eight years and has been the head boys tennis coach at Kent Denver for the past two.
One of the first things he’s done at Meadow Creek? Added a satellite facility with pickleball.
“In the broader sense, there is some divide between tennis and pickleball and all the racquet sports,” Hintz said. “Myself and the ownership group believe they can all work in one place.”
Indoor tennis courts at Meadow Creek Tennis Club in Lakewood. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Hintz: “Racquet sports are really having a moment”
This week, two dedicated pickleball courts for Meadow Creek opened up the road at a “satellite location” at 679 Sheridan Blvd. The courts, which are also open to nonmembers, are just one part of what Hintz called “phase one” of his plan as owner.
Next, he hopes to start updating furniture, fixtures and equipment while also improving social areas. Hintz also hopes to add Padel to the club’s racquet sport offerings by the end of the year or early 2025. The sport originated in Mexico and is a mix of tennis and squash. Play takes place on a walled-in court, and the walls can be used in-game.
A sign for Meadow Creek Tennis Club. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
Further down the road, in the next phase, Hintz hopes to introduce squash to the club, add more parking, expand fitness and workout areas, and install outdoor social spaces and golf simulators.
“Racquet sports are really having a moment worldwide,” he said.
Hintz said he purchased the club with one main investor and a larger “group of passionate racquet sports aficionados” as limited partners. JPMorgan Chase provided the group with an SBA loan.
Hintz also unveiled a new membership program, with adults paying $35 or $50 a month depending on age, plus an initiation fee of $175 or $250. Non-members can use the club for $10 a day plus a court and/or program fee. Previously, people paid for memberships for specific features, like the gym or platform tennis.
Between 25 and 30 people work for Meadow Creek. General Manager Jaime Stokes will remain in that position.
“The new vision is to have five racquet sports under one roof,” Stokes said.
Inside 3rd Shot Pickleball’s Wheat Ridge facility. (Matt Geiger/BusinessDen)
At 3rd Shot, “We’re pickleball first,” Kahn said.
Adam Kahn, who sold Meadow Creek, first heard about pickleball from his older sister about a decade ago.
“Many tennis club owners and tennis players were strongly against pickleball at the time,” he said.
The initial pickleball programming at Meadow Creek was very ad hoc — taping new lines on tennis courts. Kahn noticed a lot of people were playing pickleball, but that there weren’t many places to play it.
He founded 3rd Shot Pickleball with longtime friends Wayne Williamson and David Bailey. The trio set out to find a large space with high ceilings and ample parking.
“It’s a real estate barrier to entry,” Kahn said.
Eventually, they settled on the 34,000-square-foot former Lucky’s Market grocery store at 3545 Wadsworth Blvd. in Wheat Ridge, signing a 10-year lease with two five-year renewal options. The group spent roughly $1 million building it out, installing 648 “sound baffles” to dampen the noise of the notoriously loud sport. The location opened at the tail end of December 2023.
During that process, Kahn read a news article about a lack of pickleball courts in Longmont, and convinced Oskar Blues Brewing Co. founder Dale Katechis to help him with opening there as well. That location, which includes a full-service restaurant run by Katechis, was first to open last November.
The group has done $1.1 million in revenue in Wheat Ridge and nearly $1 million in Longmont since opening, Kahn said. Locations in Reno, Nevada, and Evansville, Illinois, are in the works, along with one in Indianapolis.
Locations operate as “semi-private clubs.” Memberships cost $68 a month and come with a reduced court reservation, league and lesson fees.
Unlike some other pickleball operators, 3rd Shot doesn’t use a franchise model. Kahn, Williamson and Bailey — as well as Katechis, who has joined as a partner — instead pick an operator in each market, who gets an ownership stake in their particular spot, which Kahn said puts the whole business in a better position to succeed.
The main priority for 3rd Shot, Kahn said, is the sport. Other operators, such as Chicken N Pickle, prioritize the food and beverage options over game play, he said.
“We’re the inverse of that. We’re pickleball first, food and beverage as an adjunct,” he said.
