With the popularity of pickleball growing like wildfire in recent years, the Mid-South’s first dedicated indoor pickleball facility is officially open for business in Bartlett.

Bluff City Pickleball hosted a special grand opening event on Saturday, March 23, at 2809 Bartlett Boulevard, inside what was formerly the Malco Bartlett Cinema for more than three decades.

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John and Leslie Daniel, who funded the more than $500,000 needed for the project themselves, soft-opened earlier this month just in time for The Best of Times 50 Over tournament, which they then followed up with two weeks of open house/open play for visitors.

“It’s been emotional seeing this place open up because this is a dream that we had,” Leslie Daniel said. “We’re just in awe and can’t believe that this is finally happening.”

Promoting wellness has become a social enterprise for the couple — Leslie Daniel is a breast cancer survivor, and John Daniel is a heart transplant recipient.

“We’ve been given time, and we just want to make it purposeful,” John Daniel said. “This is a big financial risk for us, but the other side of it is we know that being engaged, having goals and being connected to people is the key to long life.”

The project is the direct result of John spending a year at Harvard in 2022 on a fellowship studying how to build social enterprises.

Several of the suburb’s elected officials came out for the special occasion, including aldermen Robert Griffin and Brad King, Alderwoman Monique Williams and Alderman and Vice Mayor Jack Young.

“I think what they’ve done to the place is fantastic,” Young said. “I’m excited about the people it’s going to bring to Bartlett. I might even try to play pickleball myself sometime. It looks like a lot of fun.”

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King and Williams agreed that it’s a nice addition to the city.

“I think the building is beautiful, and it will bring a lot of revenue in,” Williams said.

“I’m just excited to have such a top-notch, first-class facility here for pickleball,” King added. “It’s going to be great for the community.”

Cnct. design created the plans to renovate the 27,000-square-foot facility, transforming the former theater’s 10 auditoriums into eight pickleball courts, one smaller practice court, and an exercise/flex studio for stretching, warming up and other potential uses.

“We’d like to get people who do dance or yoga or whatever who have a dream of opening a business. We’d love for them to come in and build up a client base here,” John said.

A new mezzanine area overlooks the various courts, replacing the dark movie projector rooms. The theater’s large lobby and concession area was converted into a multi-purpose reception and cafe space.

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The Daniels paid respect to the history of the building by naming the courts after famous movies like “Top Gun,” “Star Wars,” “Rocky” and “Black Panther.”

Bluff City Pickleball offers monthly and annual memberships, open and league play, tournaments, lessons, fundraising events, corporate events and birthday parties.

One of the area’s well-known pickleball pros, Taylor Taylor, was on hand for the event. She is the founder and executive director of the Picklemania nonprofit, which works with children in under-resourced communities and is partnering with Bluff City Pickleball.

“We teach a social/emotional learning curriculum called “Pickleball with Purpose” that is based on adverse childhood experiences research,” she said. “The final sustainability vertical of Picklemania has always been a facility. We are incredibly grateful to be a part of this.”

A special fundraiser for Picklemania will take place at Bluff City Pickleball from April 26 to April 28.

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