The North Kansas City, Missouri-based company had a conditional use permit approved during a joint Grapevine Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council meeting Aug. 20.
The indoor and outdoor entertainment complex features a restaurant, a sports bar, pickleball courts and other outdoor yard games at 4600 Merlot Avenue. Now, the business will forge ahead with plans for eight padel courts.
Explained
Chicken N Pickle co-owner Matt Rose explained padel is a growing sport that is popular in Europe with more than 7,000 courts in Spain.
He said the game is a mixture of pickleball, tennis and racquetball. The courts will have glass enclosures to bounce the ball off the wall, similar to racquetball. Rose said a tennis ball is used and the the racket is similar to one used in pickleball, without strings.
He said there are currently only two padel courts in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, located at Net Racquet Club in Farmers Branch.
“It’s the largest sport that you never heard of,” said architect Luke McElwain, who works at the Chicken N Pickle headquarters in Missouri.
Rose said the addition could help take some pressure off the use of pickleball courts, which have been in high demand since opening in January 2023.
The details
Rose said the Grapevine location is the largest indoor pickleball complex in the United States and the padel courts will the largest in the country.
The eight courts will be 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide and enclosed with a 13-foot tempered glass wall. McElwain estimated the courts will be ready in early 2025.
The location is a gravel lot currently used for parking by the business employees, Rose said. The lot is 1.4 acres, according to city documents.
