A chocolate factory that symbolized Seattle's food culture for 20 years has been reborn as a dedicated pickleball club with 10 indoor courts. In the 27,000-square-foot (about 2,508 square meters) former Theo Chocolate warehouse on North 35th Street in the Fremont district, the Utah-based chainThe Picklropened on April 4. Meanwhile, in the same city of Seattle, the Parks and Recreation department is advancing a "Racquet Sports Strategy" plan that includes removing 36 outdoor courts, and the same month a starkly contrasting picture surfaced: private expansion and government reduction.
News details: a former chocolate factory becomes a 10-court indoor facility
The Picklr Fremont moved into the former Theo Chocolate flagship site in Fremont in north Seattle. The building is a warehouse built in 1972, a facility Theo Chocolate used for about 20 years until it closed in February 2025. The new facility uses the 27,000-square-foot floor, laying out a total of 10 indoor courts, including one championship-spec court.
Owner Rajiv Khatri told local outlet KIRO 7, "Bringing The Picklr to Fremont is a game changer for the community." He further said it is "a very accessible and welcoming place where everyone from 5 to 85 can enjoy the same court," emphasizing participation opportunities regardless of age.
Background: The Picklr and Seattle demand
The Picklr is an indoor pickleball chain based in Utah that operates 60 locations worldwide and 20 US clubs. It has expanded rapidly across North America since 2022, deploying facilities in areas it hasn't yet entered under a mix of franchise and directly operated models. In the Seattle metro area, following Fremont, additional openings in Tacoma and Federal Way are also planned, aiming to build a network of hubs in the Pacific Northwest.
Behind Seattle being chosen is a climate factor unique to the Pacific Northwest: long rainy spells. In areas with many rainy days from autumn to spring, where outdoor court use is limited, indoor-only facilities are scarce. As a result, as a market where monthly-fee club operations are easy to sustain, the entry of private chains is accelerating.
Seattle proposes cutting 36 courts at the same time -- an ironic picture
In parallel with The Picklr Fremont's opening, Seattle Parks and Recreation has published a draft "Outdoor Racquet Sports Strategy" that would remove 36 of the outdoor courts. It is a plan to return to tennis-only use, by removing lines, courts that had been made dual-use during the pandemic by adding pickleball lines to tennis courts. If carried out, the city's playable pickleball courts would shrink from the current 92 to 56.
New court construction costs are said to be $200,000-300,000 per court, and while removal candidates could be taken out of service as early as June 2026, a feasibility study for building new courts isn't scheduled to start until 2027. The Seattle Metro Pickleball Association launched a petition asking to "keep the dual-use courts until new courts are completed," gathering more than 2,400 signatures to urge the city to reconsider.
The contrast by the numbers: private expansion vs. government reduction
| Item | The Picklr Fremont (private) | City of Seattle (government) |
|---|---|---|
| Move | 10 new courts open | Proposal to remove 36 courts |
| Location | Fremont (indoor) | 7 districts across the city (outdoor) |
| Timing | Opened April 4, 2026 | Assumed to be carried out from June 2026 onward |
| Floor area | 27,000 square feet | Citywide |
| Price | Annual-fee membership | Free (public courts) |
| Impact | Absorbs urban indoor demand | 92 courts to 56, about a 40% cut |
As this table shows, in Seattle a structural change is progressing simultaneously: "outdoor courts you can play at freely and casually" are shrinking while "membership-based, paid indoor courts" are expanding. For players, the means of access is shifting from public to private, from outdoor to indoor, and from free to paid.
Reaction from the industry and community
1. Owner Rajiv Khatri (The Picklr Fremont)
"By bringing 10 courts to the Seattle metro area, the options for players seeking casual play opportunities expand," he said in local outlet myballard.com. He has laid out an operating policy that emphasizes drawing in newcomers, with Pickleball 101 (a free experience program), tournaments, leagues, and clinics on site.
2. Seattle Metro Pickleball Association
The association criticized the city's removal plan, saying it "is tantamount to the government abandoning the playing population gained during the pandemic." It led the petition and, in coverage by the West Seattle Blog and KomoNews, is demanding "interim maintenance until new courts are completed."
3. National outlet The Dink Pickleball
It positioned Seattle's removal plan as "a litmus test in US pickleball urban planning" and analyzed that "there is potential for a swing back to tennis-only use to spread to other cities." The outlet also touched on the picture in which the expansion of private chains could accelerate public reductions.
Points Japan's pickleball industry should take away
The "simultaneous progress of government reduction and private expansion" happening in Seattle could become an issue Japan faces before long. In Japan, school gyms, community centers, and closed-school conversions are the main venues, and dedicated indoor facilities are still few. If a Seattle-style private chain model (annual-fee, large boxes of 10-plus courts) lands in Japan, the same segregation from municipal courts and division of user segments could be reproduced.
What deserves particular attention is "the handling of dual-use courts." In Japan, interim operation by adding lines to tennis courts, badminton courts, and gyms is spreading, but if demands from the tennis side for dedicated use surface, it will face the same reduction debate as Seattle. Organizing player groups and presenting data-based usage records will become necessary in Japan too, ahead of the curve.
Ripple effects on the industry: private chains' "turnkey indoor" model
The Picklr's Fremont case is a prime example of the model of "repurposing idle large urban properties into indoor courts." If large boxes in the 20,000-40,000-square-foot class -- chocolate factories, warehouses, former supermarkets, bowling alleys -- can be used turnkey, new-build costs can be greatly compressed. In North America, conversions of former ShopRite and Sears sites are also progressing, creating a picture where retail decline intersects with pickleball expansion.
In Japan too, for operators considering secondary use of closed commercial facilities, warehouses, and logistics facilities, this "turnkey indoor" model has high reference value.The Picklr Scottsdale caseand others, compared with which the Fremont case is positioned as an example that makes use of a rare property -- a former factory.
The Picklr Fremont practical info
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Facility Name | The Picklr Fremont |
| Location | North 35th Street, Fremont district, Seattle |
| Area | 27,000 square feet (about 2,508 square meters) |
| Number of courts | 10 courts (including 1 championship-spec court) |
| Opening date | April 4, 2026 |
| Operator | Rajiv Khatri (franchisee) |
| Programs offered | Pickleball 101 (free experience), tournaments, leagues, clinics, training |
| Membership | Annual-fee membership, with junior and family passes |
| Building history | Former Theo Chocolate flagship warehouse (built 1972, closed February 2025) |
| Chain's planned expansion | Tacoma、Federal Way |
Summary: the "redistribution" of play opportunities begins
The Picklr Fremont's 27,000-square-foot, 10-court opening is not a mere facility opening but an event that symbolizes the redistribution of access -- "from public to private, from outdoor to indoor, from free to paid." Because it occurred in the same April as Seattle's proposal to remove 36 courts, that contrast came into sharp relief.
For Japan's pickleball stakeholders, how to design the three-layer structure of government courts, dual-use courts, and private dedicated facilities -- and how to come to terms with local communities when private chains land -- will be themes to be tested going forward. Seattle's moves are worth watching continuously as a precedent for that.Follow-up on Seattle's 36-court removal planandtrends in domestic indoor facilities in Japanare also worth referring to.
Sources and references
- Fox 13 Seattle「From chocolate to pickleball: Seattle’s massive indoor courts open in Fremont」
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/indoor-pickleball-courts-fremont-seattle - KIRO 7 News「’A game-changer for our community’: New 10-court pickleball club brings the heat to Fremont」
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/game-changer-our-community-new-10-court-pickleball-club-brings-heat-fremont/UVPT2LQCBZFSFJ5TRAKAE2CIBY/ - The Dink Pickleball「Seattle Proposal Could Remove 30+ Pickleball Courts」
https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/seattle-proposal-could-remove-30-pickleball-courts/ - Pickleball.com「Seattle Parks and Recreation proposes eliminating 36 outdoor pickleball courts」
https://pickleball.com/news/seattle-parks-and-recreation-proposes-eliminating-36-outdoor-pickleball-courts - MyBallard.com「The Picklr to open Fremont indoor pickleball facility April 4」
https://www.myballard.com/2026/04/01/the-picklr-to-open-fremont-indoor-pickleball-facility-april-4/
