Pickleball. What was once a game we played for a week or two in the winter in gym class is now, apparently, a national craze.
But for first cousins Dave Sacks and Dave Schrott (yes, they are first cousins and both named “Dave” and no, neither of them seems very perturbed by that reality), the idea of opening a pickleball facility came before the national trend.
Pickleball is a game like tennis or ping-pong played on a badminton-sized court with paddles and a plastic ball with holes. It can be played either as a singles or doubles game.
“I’ve played pickleball my whole life, off and on,” said Sacks. He grew up in Portland playing tennis and came across pickleball at tournaments and in gym class. Pickleball was invented on Bainbridge Island in 1965, which is probably why the sport trickled down to Oregon elementary schools and tennis facilities by the 1980s.
About 10 years ago, Sacks said, he added a pickleball court to his family’s farm.
“It’s social and fun,” said Schrott.
The two men were recently standing in the middle of The People’s Courts, a former bowling alley-turned-BMX-bike-park on Northeast 82nd Avenue across from McDaniel High School. Around them, walls were still being built for what would be different restaurants, an arcade, bathrooms and changing rooms.
But now, in the center of the 48,000-square-foot building, where once bowling lanes filled the floor, five brand-new pickleball courts stand, interspersed with cornhole, ping-pong tables and bocce courts.
When it opens this summer, The People’s Courts will feature five full-size indoor pickleball courts plus three smaller courts and six outdoor courts. There will be bocce ball, ping-pong, cornhole, an arcade and a “putt-putt style” disc golf course in the basement, plus two bars and two restaurants, serving pizza, grill options and soft-serve ice cream and shakes.
Schrott and Sacks aren’t just two cousins who share a name and a love of a formerly-obscure racquet sport. They, along with Sacks’ dad Robert Sacks, are real estate developers behind the Portland Ace Hotel (which they sold last year) and Suttle Lodge near Sisters. They own the buildings that house Coopers Hall Winery and Taproom, Spirit of 77 and Oven and Shaker, among others.
The group has owned the property, which formerly housed The Lumberyard for over 10 years. The Lumberyard shut down last summer after the pandemic, a fire and financial struggles, according to Bike Portland.
Now, the family is taking full control of the project, which is set to include a pizza program developed by Brian Spangler of Apizza Scholls and a bar and grill menu conceived by Nate Tilden of Clyde Common and Olympia Provisions.
Even the arcade will have a well-known Portland name attached. “Quarter World is working with us on this,” Sacks said, gesturing to the space that will someday hold the arcade, a combination of pinball and other games.
The concept is basically a bowling alley for the next quarter century – recreational and social opportunities for everyone, a little sweatier perhaps, with a higher quality of food, drinks and treats.
“The idea is you can get your food, your pop, your beer,” said Schrott. “We’re going to have tables out at all the spaces. So you come with your family or groups of friends and you get a pizza and pitchers of beer.”
It’s true. They want to bring back pitchers of beer.
“People can sit and eat and drink while they’re watching their friends play,” Sacks said.
The space has a ways to go before it welcomes people looking to recreate, eat and drink together, but we took a tour of the space and it’s not hard to imagine the space filled with people, together, having a good time.
— Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker
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