LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Dapper Companies and a California-based restaurant group if bringing a 3-acre, 10,000-square-foot pickleball complex to Las Vegas.
Branded “Electric Pickle,” based on feeling good and alive, the complex will include nine pickleball courts, a two-story restaurant with a patio and rooftop bar, three bars, cornhole and bocce ball courts and a lawn for live music, yoga classes and other group gatherings.
Paul Frederick, co-founder and chief development officer of Eureka Restaurant Group, created Electric Pickle to capitalize on what has become America’s fastest growing sport. The group is opening three pickleball-themed restaurants in Austin, Texas, Tempe, Arizona and Las Vegas set to open in 2022 and 2023.
Having opened Eureka! in Downtown Las Vegas a few years ago and meeting with Dapper, the group decided to make Las Vegas their next location as they expand throughout the southwest.
Invented on Bainbridge Island west of Seattle in 1965, the sport is played on a hard surface smaller than a tennis court with a net, solid paddles, and a perforated plastic ball. The goal is similar to tennis: get the ball over the net and score on your opponent’s side. However, this game is played in a condensed space, has its own funky rules, and is fun to play with minimal ability or instruction.
While pickleball may be the catalyst to the brand and overall project, the food and beverage menus will be highly curated global comfort cuisine as a polished causal restaurant featuring Neapolitan pizzas, Mexico City tacos, American burgers and Korean protein and hemp bowls. There will be sit down service in the restaurant as well as contactless ordering available throughout the complex. Guests will be able to order from the courts and have food and beverages delivered in minutes.
Frederick estimates the restaurant will support roughly 150 jobs. The nine courts have a capacity for 36 people at a time, while the complex can accommodate up to 700 people. All reservations will be made online, up to two days in advance, and cost about $30 an hour.
The Bend, a retail project covering nearly 10 acres in Southwest Las Vegas, will be 158,511 square feet, once completed.
