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 Picklrが4月4日に開業。同じシアトル市では、市公園局が36面の屋外コート撤去を含む「Racquet Sports Strategy」案を進めており、民間が増設・行政が削減という対照的な構図が同月に表面化した。
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.
オーナーのRajiv Khatri氏は地元メディアに対し「The Picklrをフリーモントに持ち込めることはコミュニティにとってのゲームチェンジャーだ」とコメント。さらに「5歳から85歳まで同じコートで楽しめる、非常にアクセスしやすく親しみやすい場所」と述べ、年齢を問わない参加機会を強調した。
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)
「10面をシアトル都市圏に持ち込むことで、カジュアルプレー機会を求めるプレーヤーの選択肢が広がる」と地元メディアで述べた。Pickleball 101（無料体験プログラム）、トーナメント、リーグ、クリニックを併設し、新規参入者の取り込みを重視する運営方針を打ち出している。
2. Seattle Metro Pickleball Association
協会は市の撤去案に対し「コロナ禍で得られた競技人口を行政が放棄するに等しい」と批判。署名を主導し「新規コート完成までの暫定維持」を要求している。
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.
日本でも商業施設の閉店跡・倉庫・物流施設の二次活用を検討する事業者にとって、この「居抜きインドア」モデルは参考価値が高い。スコッツデールのThe Picklr案件などと比較すると、フリーモント案件は工場跡という稀少物件を活かした事例として位置付けられる。
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/
