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Sketches of the future exterior for The Picklr, a 10-court pickleball complex in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.

The Vestavia Hills City Council on Monday unanimously approved a public-private partnership that paves the way for the state’s first Picklr indoor pickleball complex.

The development will include 10 indoor pickleball courts, a pro shop, a restaurant and other amenities. The new Picklr will occupy the former Sprouts grocery store directly across U.S. 31 from Vestavia Hills City Hall at 1031 Montgomery Highway.

Filling the 28,092-square-foot space has been a priority for the City Council since the Sprouts store closed in 2018 and subsequent efforts to find a replacement tenant failed.

Assistant City Manager Cinnamon McCulley, filling in for City Manager Jeff Downes who is attending a conference this week, said the plan calls for the purchase of the entire shopping center from the current owner, GBT Realty, by Altera AIP-Vestavia.

Altera AIP will retain the existing tenants, including Chipotle and Jersey Mike’s Subs, while negotiating the termination of the remaining Sprouts lease with GPT Realty, McCulley said.

The economic development agreement includes an initial investment of $300,000 from the city to Altera-AIP and the re-establishment of non-educational sales and property tax rebates terminated in 2018 when Sprouts ceased operations. The rebates include a 50% share of city tax revenues produced by the shopping center over 10 years.

McCulley said the agreement will continue the progress the city has made in recent years to improve the area along Montgomery Highway, as well as address the growing demand for pickleball and provide further economic stimulus to the city.

“Over the past three years, … a lot of really great improvements have been made along the Highway 31 corridor and the trajectory of these improvements has really proved to be quite beneficial,” McCulley said. :The occupancy of this new entertainment venue will create a good bit of momentum for that area and financial strength for our city’s finances, also offering conveniences to our residents.

“We have a lot of resident demand,” McCulley added. “We have a lot of people that reach out and ask us to convert tennis courts to pickleball, and this will help to satisfy a lot of that demand.”

Patrick Denney, a Vestavia Hills resident and real estate developer who is the principal owner of Altera-AIP Vestavia, said the need for the public-private partnership is due to the complexities of the shopping center’s financing through mortgage-backed securities.

“It’s a very complicated finance. No one’s ever been able to sublease it because of the Sprouts lease, as the landlord has been retaining those lease payments and that credit because of the financing that’s on it,” Denney said. “This is an expensive endeavor to purchase this asset because we could not enter into a sublease, so we had to figure out how to secure it.”

Denney added that of the 10 indoor courts, eight of them will be championship courts in which bleachers for spectators can be added. The facility likely will host high-level pickleball events, including professional tournaments, he said.

Denney also presented schematics of the project designed by Hendon & Huckestein Architects and said Stewart Perry Construction Co. is the general contractor. The project is scheduled for completion by late January/early February 2025.

In other news Monday, the City Council:

Accepted grants totaling $45,000 for the construction and installation of playground and exercise equipment at Altadena Valley Park. The grants include $20,000 from the Jefferson County Commission (through Commissioner Mike Bolin’s discretionary account), a $15,000 grant from Innovate Alabama and a $10,000 grant from the state of Alabama (through state Rep. Mike Shaw’s discretionary account).
Approved final annexation and rezoning requests from the owners of properties at 3365 Rosemary Lane, 2768 Altadena Lake Drive, and 3509 Pineland Drive.
Approved the initial actions to annex and rezone properties at 2686 Altadena Road, 2701 Alta View Drive and 2612 Altadena Road.
Approved a resolution officially recognizing the use of the electronic vote-counting machines used by Jefferson County for use in all of Vestavia Hills’ municipal elections.
Recognized October as Down Syndrome Awareness Month and Fire Prevention Month.

The next Vestavia Hills City Council action meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m.

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Vestavia Hills City Council OKs incentives for pickleball complex