Goddard Investment Group is hoping a mega-popular racket sport will revive a landmark skyscraper in downtown Dallas.
Construction starts next month on a $5 million, 14,000-square-foot addition at the Fountain Place tower on Ross Avenue, the Dallas Morning News reported. The renovation, designed by architecture firm Phillips, is set to include a new tenant lounge and club with a pickleball court, golf simulators and a hunting simulator.
It’s the first major upgrade at the 60-story building since 2019, when Goddard spent $70 million to add a garage with ground-floor retail, a restaurant and an outdoor plaza, while revamping the lobby and touching up the fountains surrounding the tower.
Pickleball, which straddles the line between ping pong and tennis, has taken over the world of real estate. Pickleball courts have become must-have multifamily amenities in some markets, and they’re popular additions to vacancy-plagued office buildings.
Office demand has plummeted in Dallas and most of the country. Accounting for subleases, about 77 percent of Fountain Place is up for grabs.
In the Dallas area, about 60 percent of workers have returned to the office. Landlords are getting creative to revive their assets, usually performing major overhauls to include top-tier amenities and lure employees back to the office. Some downtown buildings are undergoing office-to-resi conversions, as well.
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Most office building renovations in recent years have included upgraded tenant lounges, new fitness centers or restaurant space. Now, however, landlords are building pickleball courts to stay competitive.
A pickleball court was recently added to the 50-story Santander Tower in downtown Dallas. Northwest of the city, developers are adding pickleball, volleyball courts and a nine-hole putting green to Cypress Waters, a 1,000-acre mixed-use complex.
—Quinn Donoghue