By Marci Shatzman

Not your typical groundbreaking as Boca Paddle’s team, investors, players and public officials turned out en masse for the new public indoor/outdoor pickleball and padel center’s official start. A red carpet led up to a sturdy open tent complete with fans and refreshments, courtesy of Farmer’s Table, the restaurant provider for the new 25 court facility.

White baseball caps with the Boca Paddle by CityPickle logo were on seats facing a dais and step-and-repeat with the usual shovels, this time with matching paddles. CityPickle co-founders/CEOs Erica Desai and Mary Cannon came in from NYC for the shovels-in-the-ground ceremony the morning of June 10 on the NW 2nd Avenue and Jeffrey Street site in the planned North Park in Boca Teeca.

With eight locations, among them in New York, Philly and West Palm Beach, they started the company four years ago to “offer an elevated pickleball experience,” Desai said, adding they now they have 130,000 customers. CityPickle will run the day-to-day operations, according to Malcolm Butters, the South Florida developer leading Boca Paddle. That group was chosen by the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District to develop and operate the 100,000-square-foot, $20 million facility expected to open to the public in the first quarter of 2026.

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