The Fort pickleball stadium on the rise in Fort Lauderdale

The Fort, a 43-court pickleball complex on the rise in Fort Lauderdale’s Snyder Park, is expected to open by the end of the year.

The ambitious project, touted as the world’s first pickleball stadium, calls for a lakeside restaurant, 14 weatherproof courts, luxury suites, golf simulators, a dart room, volleyball, a game yard with live music and a 4,000-square-foot event center.

“The state-of-the-art facility is perfect for both casual and competitive players with open and reserved play, clinics, leagues, tournaments, all while watching touring pros train up close,” according to a recent news release.

Players will pay a fee to use the courts between 6 a.m. and midnight, with discounts given to residents.

But the 8-acre complex going up on public land is not without controversy.

Homeowners who live nearby say they are not looking forward to the noise and traffic the stadium will bring.

Critics are also up in arms about losing an estimated 313 trees that need to be taken down to make way for the new pickleball courts.

“People are very upset,” said Tom Turberville, vice president of the Edgewood Civic Association. “That was all green space with tree cover. Before you couldn’t look south and see I-595. Now it’s clear as day. It’s just depressing.”

Ted Inserra, president of the River Oaks Civic Association, has been keeping close watch on the 93-acre Snyder Park.

To see so many trees taken down was no surprise, Inserra said.

“But to see it is different than knowing it’s going to be done,” he said. “They took out oaks, sabal palms, coconut palms. It’s just heartbreaking. They say they’re going to plant more trees, but they’re going to be all lined up in a row. It’s not the same.”

Ellyn Bogdanoff, attorney for developers Brad Tuckman and Rich Campillo, says her clients are planting more trees than they are taking down.

“A lot of them will be preserved and replanted in that area of Snyder Park,” Bogdanoff said. “Some people just want an opportunity to complain and not get the facts. They claim it was a pristine area. It was a trash transfer station and a seaweed mound.”

The pickleball courts will take up an 8-acre section of the park that had been home to a trash transfer station and seaweed composting site.

The plan is to restore the nearby 7-acre lake, currently closed to swimmers.

“We want to reopen the lake, but we have to wait to see what the water quality is and if it can be maintained,” Bogdanoff said. “At the very least it would have kayaking. But we have to get the all clear.”

The controversial deal was approved by the Fort Lauderdale commission in November 2022, a week before voters elected three new commissioners.

Both Commissioners Warren Sturman and John Herbst have said they would not have voted for the deal had they been on the commission at the time of the vote.

Herbst has since argued that a unanimous commission vote should be required if the city converts public land to commercial use.

Under the deal, Fort Lauderdale will collect $100,000 a year or 1% of the gross revenue collected the previous year, whichever is greater. The developer, My Park Initiative, will operate the courts for 50 years with an option for two five-year extensions.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan