Raleigh officially began construction on eight new tennis courts at Biltmore Hills Park this past Thursday, marking the city's first new tennis courts in 30 years and a long-awaited win for a Southeast Raleigh tennis community that has pushed for improvements for nearly a decade. But even as bulldozers moved onto the site, some residents are demanding the city do more, arguing that the park's existing lower eight courts remain in poor condition and deserve funding too.
The $6.75 million project is funded through Raleigh's $275 million Parks Bond, which voters approved with 73.1% support in November 2022, according to the City of Raleigh. Raleigh's City Council formally awarded the construction contract to Sanford Contractors, Inc. during its June 2 meeting, clearing the way for work to begin. As reported by WRAL, the new courts will bring the park's total to 16 active tennis courts once construction wraps, and the project includes improved accessibility to all courts and amenities.
Not everyone is satisfied with a partial fix, though. Nicole Sullivan, one of the residents who has been vocal about the park's condition, said the lower eight courts are not in good shape and have been repeatedly resurfaced and repaired without ever becoming suitable for play. She and other residents are demanding accountability from city officials, arguing that the city still has remaining bond money and budget funds that should be used to replace the lower courts now rather than later, per the station's report.
A Historic Home for Raleigh Tennis
Biltmore Hills Park has been the home facility for the Ebony Racquet Club since 1975, when the club was established as Raleigh's first all-Black tennis club to compete in local competitions, according to the Raleigh Tennis Association. The park itself dates to 1964, when it was built as a 39-acre city park within the Biltmore Hills neighborhood — one of Raleigh's first planned Black subdivisions during segregation, alongside the adjacent Rochester Heights neighborhood. Surrounding streets in the area still honor prominent Black figures such as Ella Fitzgerald and Roy Campanella, a nod to that history.
Club coaches and youth members took part in this month's groundbreaking, underscoring how central the site remains to the club's identity more than 50 years later. The tension between celebration and unfinished business isn't new here — Raleigh Parks staff previously paused a tennis expansion effort at Biltmore Hills back in 2017 after community members raised concerns about losing little league baseball space and voiced frustration over the poor quality of prior resurfacing work on courts 7 and 8. The city commissioned a concept study that year to figure out how tennis and baseball amenities could coexist at the site.
City Says a Full Overhaul Isn't Feasible Yet
The City of Raleigh has said that replacing all of the courts at the same time simply isn't feasible under the current budget. Stephen Bentley, director of Raleigh's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department, said the city is working with consultants and the community to determine what it will take to replace the lower courts, and that discussions on that front will start this fall. Bentley said the goal is to develop a budget for that work by next spring, even as construction on the new courts continues.
Residents, for their part, want all of the court work completed by the time the park reopens rather than tackled in stages. That timeline matters because construction on the eight new courts is expected to last about a year, running through late summer or fall of 2027, with temporary entrance detours and limited parking in effect at the park during that stretch, per the city's project FAQ.
Ballfields, Stormwater and a Piece of Public Art
Building the new courts requires permanently removing the park's existing small baseball field, though the large ballfield will stay open and get upgraded lighting, a new scoreboard, and movable bases in time for the 2027 season. City planners say they designed the ballfield upgrades specifically so both youth baseball and tennis could keep operating at the park despite the reduced footprint.
Because Biltmore Hills Park was built in 1964, long before modern municipal environmental rules existed, the project also incorporates green stormwater infrastructure — including bioretention swales and cisterns — to capture runoff that has historically drained untreated into Rochester Heights Creek and, from there, the Walnut Creek watershed. That green infrastructure work carries its own $100,000 allocation, separate from a $140,000 public art installation funded through Raleigh's Percent for Public Art program, which is meant to celebrate the heritage and history of the Biltmore Hills community.
The project is one piece of a much larger citywide push: the 2022 Parks Bond is funding 20 major capital improvement projects across Raleigh through 2029, including work at Dix Park, Method Community Park, and the Tarboro Road Community Center. City officials say the bond was structured to balance geographic distribution, pandemic recovery, and historic neighborhood preservation across Raleigh — a framework that puts Biltmore Hills' expansion in the same category as some of the city's highest-profile park investments, even as the debate over the lower courts continues to play out. Once construction is complete, the city plans to eventually host tennis tournaments at Biltmore Hills, giving the rebuilt park a bigger role in the region's tennis scene.
