Demolition crews have moved inside the old General Shoe building at 1101 63rd Avenue North, marking the real start of construction on The Picklr West Nashville — a pickleball club that was first announced two years ago and has now shrunk considerably from its original blueprint. The facility, under new ownership, has signed a lease and officially entered its construction phase, with renovation work expected to take about 90 days.
A Scaled-Down Vision Two Years in the Making
When Vintage South Development first unveiled plans for the club in August 2024, it envisioned a sprawling 53,000-square-foot facility with 13 courts, according to CityNowNext. That plan has since been scaled back considerably: under its new franchise ownership, the West Nashville club will now span nearly 35,000 square feet with 12 indoor courts, as reported by WhatNow. The smaller footprint still positions the club as a major addition to the neighborhood's evolving commercial landscape.
Once complete, the club will include a full-service pro shop, community event space, locker rooms with showers, and an exercise area for warmups and recovery, per the same report. Members will have access to court reservations, league play, tournaments, drop-in play, private event areas, and sponsorship opportunities. A grand opening date has not yet been announced; the company's official website currently lists the West Nashville opening as TBD, and prospective members are being encouraged to sign up for founder membership updates ahead of launch.
Inside the Historic General Shoe Complex
The Picklr is moving into a former GENESCO shoe factory. The General Shoe complex spans 9 acres, according to a LoopNet listing. The site's industrial bones are now being repurposed for a very different kind of activity than shoemaking.
The Picklr won't be alone on the redeveloped campus. Nashville Swim Academy signed a lease back in August 2024 to build a 10,000-square-foot indoor swim facility at the same General Shoe site, per CityNowNext's original reporting. Together, the two tenants are turning the old manufacturing complex into something closer to a community wellness and sports hub than a shoe factory.
Formal city paperwork backs up the on-the-ground progress. A commercial building permit application for The Picklr West Nashville was submitted to Metro Nashville Codes in August, confirming municipal movement on the project even before demolition crews went to work inside, according to nash.news.
Crowded Courts: Nashville's Indoor Pickleball Boom
The Picklr isn't the first big indoor operator to stake a claim in Music City. Competitor Pickleball Kingdom opened a 14-court, climate-controlled facility at 5035 Harding Place in South Nashville back in January 2025, getting a head start in the city's indoor racquet sports market, according to Nashville Guru. That facility's early arrival means The Picklr will be playing catch-up in a market that's grown fast even before its own doors open.
The timing lines up with a national surge in the sport. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association reported in June that U.S. pickleball participation hit 24.3 million players in 2025, up 22.8% year-over-year and a staggering 479% since 2020, with core players who play eight or more times a year expanding to 7.5 million. That growth has attracted serious institutional money: private equity firm Apollo Sports Capital led a $225 million investment in Pickleball Inc., the parent company behind The Picklr, the PPA Tour, and Major League Pickleball, valuing the umbrella enterprise at $750 million, according to Athletech News. That's a steep climb from the roughly $59 million valuation The Picklr carried after its Series B round in mid-2024.
The brand has also leaned on star power to fuel its national expansion. Super Bowl champion quarterback Drew Brees partnered with The Picklr in February 2024 as a national brand ambassador, investor, and area developer overseeing 30 franchise locations across Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, per a release distributed by PR Newswire. By early 2024, the company had already secured over 300 franchise commitments nationwide.
A Developer With a Track Record in The Nations
Vintage South Development isn't new to turning old industrial buildings into neighborhood destinations. The firm previously transformed the 1925 Belle Meade Hosiery Mill in The Nations into Stocking 51, a 150,000-square-foot adaptive reuse complex that now houses Frothy Monkey and Southern Grist Brewing Co., according to the developer's own project materials. That prior success offers a template for how the General Shoe site might evolve as it fills out with tenants.
Membership at the new club will follow The Picklr's national structure. The company operates on a tiered model, including an Unlimited Membership that grants access to courts, leagues, tournaments, and open play across every open Picklr location nationwide, per WhatNow's reporting. For now, though, the West Nashville club remains a construction site — one where the sound of demolition hammers has finally replaced two years of delayed announcements.
