A two-acre pickleball and padel complex is set to open its doors to the public on August 26 at 7202 Long Point Rd. in Spring Branch, bringing 12 pickleball courts, four padel courts, a full-service kitchen and an onsite cocktail lounge to a stretch of road once home to a pair of intimate fine-dining concepts. Long Point Social Club replaces the site formerly occupied by Degust and Diversión, two small-footprint restaurant and bar concepts that closed to make way for the new venue.
The club comes from The Kirby Group, the Houston hospitality company behind Pitch 25, Bayou Heights Bier Garten and Heights Bier Garten, according to CultureMap Houston. Co-founder Andy Aweida said the venue is designed to bring people together through leagues, learning, open play and socializing, and that it aims to build an inclusive community. The property includes eight covered pickleball courts among its dozen total courts, an indoor-outdoor bar and restaurant, an onsite pro shop, a dog park for patrons' pups, and an LED video wall paired with nine TVs.
From Tasting Menus to Team Leagues
The address's culinary pedigree runs deep: Degust was a 20-seat Spanish-Mexican-inspired tasting menu spot led by chef Brandon Silva, while Diversión was a 32-seat farm-to-cocktail lounge from Steven Salazar, both launched by The Kirby Group in January 2021, according to Houston Food Finder. Diversión later earned a spot on Esquire magazine's list of America's 25 best bars in 2022. State construction records show the Long Point Social Club buildout carried an estimated cost of $2.7 million, with work performed between March 2025 and January 2026, according to filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Aweida holds an MBA from Rice University and previously served as CEO of the WNBA's Houston Comets before working in risk management for a NASA contractor, according to SEC filings. Co-founder Jeff Barati holds an MBA from the University of Houston and worked for Fortune 500 companies including UBS and Waste Management before the pair began operating Houston hospitality venues together in the 2000s, the filings show.
Food, Drink and a New Cocktail Concept
Once open, the club plans a full day of food and drink service. LP Café serves coffee and pastries starting at 8 a.m., weekend brunch begins at 11 a.m., and the kitchen rolls out burgers, bowls and shareable items starting at 3 p.m. A separate cocktail concept called The Bixby will operate with its own entrance inside the venue, with concept details expected to be shared in the coming weeks, per the CultureMap report.
Court time isn't limited to walk-ins. The club is open to the general public and welcomes both experienced and new players, offering pickleball and padel clinics, private lessons and group instruction alongside four membership tiers. Five-week leagues will feature set partner and round robin play, padel americano formats, king of the court matchups and cumulative leaderboards, and the club has said it plans to eventually add Major League Pickleball-style team leagues. A running club rounds out the programming.
A Broader Shift Away From Smaller Venues
The opening arrives as The Kirby Group has pulled back from smaller nightlife concepts elsewhere in Houston. The company closed Montrose Tex-Mex spot Verde Garden in January 2026 and its flagship Midtown cocktail bar Wooster's Garden, which had operated since 2014, the following month, according to DiningOut. The moves point to a broader pivot toward large-format sports and social venues rather than traditional bar and restaurant footprints.
That pivot hasn't been without setbacks. Solarium, a Midtown pickleball lounge The Kirby Group co-developed, permanently closed in early 2026 after less than a year, as Hoodline reported in its story on the Midtown court closure. Long Point Social Club represents a significant expansion on that earlier model, spreading 12 pickleball courts, four padel courts and morning-to-night food and beverage service across two acres.
Spring Branch's Long Point Corridor Is Changing
The new club lands on a road already in the middle of a planning overhaul. Long Point Road serves as Spring Branch's central commercial corridor, and the Spring Branch Management District, working with H-GAC, has launched a Livable Centers study aimed at converting the four-lane street into a walkable, multimodal Main Street district. The district is also redeveloping the nearby 13-acre Haden Park at Long Point and Witte Road with pickleball courts and event space starting in 2025.
Population growth is fueling that redevelopment push. Spring Branch's population grew from 107,271 to 120,667 residents over a decade, according to demographic data compiled by the Spring Branch Management District and cited by the Greater Houston Partnership. The neighborhood's proximity to Interstate 10 and the Energy Corridor has accelerated commercial redevelopment in the area. Real estate listings nearby are already capitalizing on the club's arrival — a 1951 home at 7303 Long Point Rd. was listed for $380,000 on HAR.com, with the listing specifically highlighting its location directly across from the club and citing ongoing area growth.
Riding a National Racquet-Sports Boom
The club's court count reflects a genuine national surge in racquet sports rather than a local anomaly. Nationwide pickleball participation reached 24.3 million players in 2025, a 22.8 percent one-year gain and a 479 percent increase over five years, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, which has named pickleball America's fastest-growing sport for five consecutive years. Padel is growing even faster on a percentage basis: U.S. participation crossed 1 million players for the first time in 2025, supported by more than 1,000 courts across 31 states as of April 2026, according to the United States Padel Association, whose individual membership surged 53.5 percent in 2025.
Long Point Social Club now enters an increasingly crowded Houston racquet-sports market that includes TEMPO Padel and Pickleball Club, also in Spring Branch. Not every competitor is thriving — PKL Social on Shepherd Drive saw its land listed for sale by its landlord earlier this year, a development Hoodline covered in its report on the Shepherd Drive venue's uncertain future. Whether Long Point Social Club's larger footprint and diversified food-and-beverage strategy can hold up in that competitive landscape remains to be seen once doors open next week.
