Is this the new pickleball? Five Points lands padel club

By Karoline Leonard

A new racket sport club is coming to Five Points this year.

New York-based padel club Padel Haus announced it will open its sixth location at 2501 Welton St., marking its first location west of the Mississippi River and second location outside of New York.

Padel Haus is leasing the 24,000-square-foot warehouse for about $17 per square foot, or $400,000 annually, Weststar Commercial broker Lev Cohen said. Padel Haus founder and CEO Santiago Gomez said the company is investing about $2 million in the buildout.

Padel is a racket sport that originated in Mexico and has grown in popularity, trailing the rise of pickleball across the country.

Padel is a mix of tennis and squash, Gomez said. The scoring is similar to tennis. Padel is played in doubles on turf courts that are surrounded by walls, which can be used in game play. The racquets are smaller and usually made of carbon fiber and foam with holes instead of strings.

“Padel is extremely social and easy to learn,” Gomez said. “The racquets are lighter and it’s always played on turf, so people are less prone to injury than other racket sports.”

According to the United States Padel Association, padel has grown across the country and is played at clubs in at least 16 states.

The former warehouse packaging center for Deeprock Water is in great shape, Cohen said. Along with the main open warehouse space, the property has covered and uncovered parking and a second floor mezzanine inside. The warehouse is climate-controlled and has 480 volts of power already in place.

The Welton Street warehouse is not the location of Deep Rock Water’s original 900-foot well that its founder dug in 1896. The company sold the building to The Simha Group about seven or eight years ago, owner Hamid Simantob said. An audio visual company then occupied the space until a year and a half ago.

The warehouse has really high ceilings, which is essential for game play, Gomez said.

“This is a big pickup for Denver,” Cohen said. “There’s been a resurgence of the Five Points area, there’s a new apartment complex nearby, light rail across the way. It’s a great property that could spark continued redevelopment of the Five Points neighborhood.”

Gomez said the Denver Padel Haus will have six indoor padel courts, locker rooms, a juice bar called Juice Haus, pro shop, four social lounges and a coworking space.

Cohen said the Padel Haus development has attracted a lot of attention city-wide, with players across the metro area expressing interest.

Denver is home to one other padel club recognized by the United States Padel Association. Parker Racquet Club, along with tennis and pickleball, offers padel lessons and open courts in Parker. Prices for open courts are $40 for guests and $24 for members. Parker Racquet Club’s courts are outdoor.

Parker Racquet Club opened its padel sports in October and the demand has grown through free introductory classes offered at the club, said Robert Gurolnick, Parker Racquet Club padel coordinator and instructor.

Gurolnick said padel allows access in order to learn, but courts are not accessible, such as how pickleball or tennis could be. The courts are expensive to build, he said.

“The goal is knowledge and trying to get people to know about padel,” Gurolnick said. “Critical mass is needed to grow the game, so I am so pumped that Padel Haus and more courts are opening here.”

Since October, Parker Racquet Club has grown its padel leagues. Gurolnick said the club has around 50 high-level male players who play every week as well as other shuttle groups for women and other ages. The club is hosting the inaugural men’s padel state championship in June and the women’s state championship in July.

“I think this year will be the tipping point for padel in the states,” Gurolnick said. “Padel, once you play or watch it, it’s night and day different from pickleball. It is more dynamic, more social and easy to pick up.”

Gomez, who was born in Mexico and owns a restaurant in New York, has played padel since he was a teenager and noticed a lack of courts in the city. He founded Padel Haus during the pandemic when his restaurants were closed.

The club has three locations in New York with a fourth opening soon, and its first location outside of the city is opening in Nashville later this summer. Gomez said Padel Haus has been wanting to expand nationwide and was looking at locations in Austin and Chicago before deciding on Denver after finding the property on Welton Street. Gomez said as of now, Padel Haus hasn’t announced nor is under contract for locations in the other two cities.