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Tennis P.R.O.

Zephyrhills tennis center breaks ground

July 17, 2019 By Kevin Weiss

A groundbreaking ceremony officially marked the beginning of construction on the long-awaited Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills.

After more than two years of planning and design, the tennis center is slated to be ready for play sometime in spring 2020.

The facility will feature 11 outdoor tennis courts (eight clay surface, two hard surface, exhibition court), built to USTA (United States Tennis Association) standards, along with eight pickleball courts and four padel courts. The tennis center also includes a 7,000-square-foot indoor clubhouse that will have a fitness and rehabilitation center, restaurant and cafe, pro shop, kid’s club and other amenities.

A July 10 groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of construction for the long-awaited Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills. (Courtesy of David Alvarez)

It will be located at 6585 Simons Road, Zephyrhills.

The project comes with a $3.3 million price tag, largely funded through state appropriations, Penny for Pasco monies, park impact fees and other donations.

The July 10 groundbreaking attracted a large crowd of dignitaries, business leaders and local residents to the site where the tennis facility will operate.

It marked a highly anticipated moment for many, as public talks of bringing a large-scale tennis center to the city began back in late 2016.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Zephyrhills Mayor Gene Whitfield said. “They’re going to build a beautiful building on this site.”

“Nothing’s going to make us happier than seeing this facility coming out of the ground,” said Zephyrhills City Manager Billy Poe.

Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg added: “It is a special day and it’s been a long time coming, but we’re glad this day is here.”

Officials say the tennis center will be not just a regional draw, but also will have national and international appeal through hosting USTA tournaments and other events.

Poe described the forthcoming facility as “an absolutely wonderful complex” that will help boost tourism and economic development in the area.

“Zephyrhills is known for water and skydiving. Soon we’re going to be known for tennis,” the city manager said.

He added, “Who knows, we very well may have a future Grand Slam champion that can say they started here at this facility. The facility will serve as an economic driver, not only for Zephyrhills, but for all of East Pasco.”

The tennis center is named in memory of Sarah Vande Berg, a former Zephyrhills High School district tennis champion, who died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015. She was the daughter of longtime city planning director Todd Vande Berg.

Sarah Vande Berg would have just turned 25 years old. Her birthday was July 7.

“I know she’s looking down from heaven, smiling, thinking, ‘Wow, this is pretty special,’ her father, holding back tears, said at the groundbreaking.

“Sarah was a special person. She was a special daughter, and special in so many ways in how she cared for and loved other people.”

Sarah Vande Berg was noted for her sportsmanship on and off the courts.

Pasco County Commissioner Jack Mariano recalled his daughter — former Fivay High School tennis standout and current state Rep. Amber Mariano — losing to Sarah Vande Berg in a prep match “probably 6-love, 6-love each time.”

“She was a great competitor,” Mariano said of Sarah Vande Berg. “She played with class, she played with classiness after the fact (and) great sportsmanship.”

The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center is a public-private partnership between the City of Zephyrhills and Tennis P.R.O., and its owner Pascal Collard, who will staff, operate and manage the tennis facility.

Collard is a former tennis director at Saddebrook who has trained his fair share of world-ranked tennis players.

Of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, Collard said, “I’m going to try my best to make it unique.”

Collard also declared this lofty ambition: “There’s not one tennis player in the world that won’t know Sarah’s name. Not one. I promise you that.”

Published July 17, 2019

Construction nearing on Zephyrhills tennis center

June 26, 2019 By Kevin Weiss

After more than two years of planning and design, a multi-million dollar tennis center in Zephyrhills will soon break ground and become a reality.

Construction is expected to begin in August on the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis and Wellness Center, Zephyrhills deputy city manager Billy Poe said during a special June 17 council meeting on the issue.

With the project’s final engineered site plan set to be completed this month, the city then will  seek construction bids through July, Poe said.

Construction is expected to begin in August on the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis and Wellness Center, situated west of Simons Road in Zephyrhills. The $3.5 million project is expected to be complete around summer 2020. (Courtesy of City of Zephyrhills)

Site and road work also is scheduled to begin next month by another contractor at the future facility’s location, which will be situated on nearly 5 acres of land, north of Dean Dairy Road and west of Simons Road.

The timeframe for the project’s completion is around summer 2020, Poe told city council members.

“I think we’ve accounted for everything,” Poe said of the design plans.

The $3.5 million tennis facility is being funded largely through combination of state appropriations, Penny for Pasco and recreation impact fees from several new housing developments.

The project is a public-private partnership between the City of Zephyrhills and Tennis P.R.O. and its owner Pascal Collard, who will operate and manage the tennis facility. It’s a similar arrangement the city has with the East Pasco YMCA.

Renderings show 11 outdoor  tennis courts (eight clay surface, two hard surface, exhibition court), built to USTA (United States Tennis Association) standards, as well as eight pickleball courts and four padel courts.

The tennis center also includes a 7,000-square-foot indoor clubhouse that will include a fitness and rehabilitation center, restaurant and cafe, pro shop and kid’s club, among other amenities.

The facility will be open approximately 80 hours per week.

More amenities also may come on line later.

Collard told council members at some point he is looking to phase in a 30,000-square-foot multi-purpose indoor sports complex which could accommodate four tennis courts and a soccer field made of artificial turf.

Indoor sports field house aside, Collard said the tennis center will draw people from inside and outside Zephyrhills and will become a draw for various regional, national and international tournaments.

He described the facility as “a community sports center for everybody.”

“I think that to have a place like this in Zephyrhills, it’s unique,” said Collard, a professional tennis instructor and former tennis director at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel. “If you build something like this, we do believe that a lot of people will come.”

The meeting also included a discussion of the tennis center’s membership fees, which Collard presented to the council.

An annual individual tennis-only membership is listed at $65 per month. Cheaper price points will be offered for four-person households ($120), individual seniors over 65 years old ($50) and household seniors over 65 years old ($90).

There will be a series of other annual membership packages with various levels of access (bronze, silver, gold, platinum), along with a six-month snowbird membership option to run from October through March.

A platinum membership, for instance, provides access to all courts and in-house tournaments, as well as the center’s fitness room, cryotherapy/salt room, and kid’s club. It also includes a golf membership at Silverado Golf & Country Club. An individual platinum membership (ages 17 and up) is listed at $1,999 annually, paid in full.

By comparison, an individual gold membership, which includes all amenities except golf, is $1,296 annually.

All memberships will include a one-time $250 initiation fee. However, the fee will be waived for the first 250 Zephyrhills residents to sign up for a membership.

There will be a 20 percent discount in memberships for nurses, teachers, military veterans and local and state government employees.

In addition to memberships, the tennis center will offer non-member day passes, daily guest passes and hourly court rental opportunities. It also will be used for receptions, fundraisers and other community events.

The facility also will host free tennis camps and lessons to underprivileged youth on a regular basis through its non-profit counterpart, Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Foundation.

“It’s nothing set in stone,” Collard said of the membership prices. “We can tweak it, we can change it, but it’s pretty much what is done in the U.S. and different places.”

“It reflects in the pricing that we’re really giving everybody the opportunity to benefit from this center,” he added.

The breakeven point for the facility is roughly 450 members, Collard said.

In determining membership costs, Collard and city staffers analyzed membership fees at several other tennis and athletic clubs throughout the Tampa Bay region, such as the Beerman Family Tennis Center in Lakeland and the Cindy Hummel Tennis Center in Auburndale.

“Really, our numbers were very comparable and even sometimes less,” city planning director Todd Vande Berg said of the membership fees. “We’re offering so much more, and we’re not even talking about the restaurant (inside the tennis center clubhouse), so we did take a careful look at the comparisons to make sure they were in line.”

Council members didn’t seem to have qualms about the various price points, instead expressing their eagerness for the forthcoming tennis venture.

“I’m excited about it,” councilwoman Jodi Wilkeson said. “I think about the people that I know that play tennis, that’s a great investment for them and would like to have that opportunity.”

Added councilman Lance Smith: “I think it’s a good partnership and I think we’re going to learn as we go along. I’m just anxious to get the facility going.”

Council president Ken Burgess said it’s “good timing” for the city to get a tennis center, pointing out roadway developments along State Road 54, State Road 56 and the Interstate 75-Overpass Road interchange extension to Zephyrhills.

“I think this is one more thing that’s going to put Zephyrhills on the map,” Burgess said. “I mean, I realize that probably a lot of our (tennis) members may come from not necessarily the city limits, but it’s still going to put Zephyrhills on the map. It’s a great design and I think everything’s coming together, all at the right time, too.”

The tennis center is named after the Sarah Vande Berg, a former Zephyrhills High School district champion, who died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015. She was the daughter of longtime city planning director Todd Vande Berg.

Published June 26, 2019

Development projects underway in Zephyrhills

March 6, 2019 By Kevin Weiss

Much development is on tap for the city of Zephyrhills — from new commercial and residential properties, to ongoing road construction projects.

Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg discussed a number of those projects as the guest speaker of the East Pasco Networking Group’s February breakfast meeting.

Among the most ballyhooed is the Sarah Vande Berg Memorial Tennis Center, which will be situated west of Simons Road.

Zephyrhills city planner Todd Vande Berg discussed several city development projects at a recent East Pasco Networking Group breakfast meeting at IHOP in Dade City. (Kevin Weiss)

The speaker said the $3.5 million project is expected to break ground in May or June: “We’re getting real close with the final engineered site plan, as well as the architect plans.”

The facility will include a mix of 11 full-size outdoor clay courts and hard courts, including an exhibition court to attract various United States Tennis Association (USTA) sanctioned tournaments.

It also will feature multiple pickleball and padel courts, racquet sports “becoming more and more popular,” Vande Berg said.

Meanwhile, the indoor portion of the center will include a lobby and seating area, community room, kid’s club room, fitness center, plus “other unique elements,” like cryotherapy and salt room chambers. Additionally, Wesley Chapel-based Buttermilk Provisions restaurant will have an in-house bakery and coffee shop with artisan offerings.

The project is a public-private partnership between the city and Tennis P.R.O and its owner, Pascal Collard, who will operate and manage the tennis facility.

The tennis center is named after Vande Berg’s daughter, a former Zephyrhills High School district champion, who died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015.

Much of the project’s funding is being offset by various impact fees and grants, Vande Berg said.

The city planner believes the tennis center could have international draw.

He said the USTA recently inquired about having the facility someday host matches for the Fed Cup, regarded as the premier international team competition in women’s tennis.

“It’s going to be a unique opportunity for all Pasco County and the region,” Vande Berg said of the tennis facility. “It’s going to be a huge deal.”

The speaker also noted some indoor/covered tennis courts could potentially be phased in later, at the discretion of the facility’s management team.

“That would make us very unique in the state of Florida, because there’s only one other facility in the state that offers that,” he said.

Also in the arena of business development, Vande Berg mentioned the city is working on a master plan for its industrial corridor — which encompasses about 4,000 untapped acres of property along the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport — to create a regional hub for light manufacturing companies.

Vande Berg said the master plan ties in with the four-lane extension of State Road 56 to U.S. 301.

The speaker noted Zephyrhills is also pursuing an additional extension to State Road 56 that would link to State Road 39; the city received $1 million in the Florida 2019 budget to fund a planning study for the project.

“One thing that we’ve heard from some manufacturers was, ‘Well, we need access to a four-lane road,’” Vande Berg said, “so that’ll make a big difference.”

Aside from trying to expand its industrial footprint, other commercial projects are in the works in Zephyrhills.

The city is set to get a Chick-Fil-A, Aldi Supermarket, PetSmart, Marriott Fairfield Hotel and Dollar General, along with other businesses.

Florida Medical Clinic is also undergoing a major health care facility expansion along Eiland Boulevard and Simons Road, Vande Berg said.

“There’s a lot going on in Zephyrhills,” the city planner said.

Vande Berg also touched on the city’s residential development, noting thousands of new homes and apartments will be coming online in the next decade.

Some of the larger developments include The District at Abbott’s Square, Zephyr Lakes, Hidden River, and expansions to the Silver Oaks and Silverado communities, while Wire Ranch Apartments and Pretty Pond/Wire Road Apartments are some the larger multifamily units in the works.

“The residential housing is booming,” Vande Berg said. “We have a couple thousand units coming on board and they’re not all retirees. A lot of these homes are single-family, younger families with kids.”

Published March 06, 2019

Firm selected to manage planned Zephyrhills tennis center

May 31, 2017 By Kevin Weiss

The Zephyrhills City Council has selected a firm to run the city’s proposed tennis complex, the latest step in guiding the ambitious project forward.

During a May 22 meeting, council members unanimously agreed to enter negotiations with Pennsylvania-based firm Tennis P.R.O. LLC, to operate and manage the proposed tennis facility.

Construction could begin by year’s end.

This rendering of the Zephyrhills Tennis Center shows 10 courts (eight clay, two hard surface), three mini-courts and one exhibition court. The tennis center is also expected to feature a pro shop, a multifunctional community room, and two office spaces. A second level, if added, will contain an observation deck, players lounge and concessions.
(File)

The council also considered Tennis Management Partners and Net Results, before making its choice.

Tennis P.R.O. is owned by Pascal Collard, the director of tennis at Saddlebrook Tennis Academy in Wesley Chapel from 2003 to 2006. He currently serves as the tennis director at The Merion Cricket Club, a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Once finalized, the public-private partnership agreement will first call for Tennis P.R.O. to offer input to the facility’s final engineered site design and architectural plans.

Elsewhere, the firm will be responsible for local tennis operations, and facilitating other elements such as membership and fundraising.

City Manager Steve Spina said the arrangement mirrors the one Zephyrhills has with the East Pasco Family YMCA, in which the city owns the building property, but outsources programming and facility management.

Councilman Lance Smith was enthusiastic about the concept.

“Having a professional firm that knows what they’re doing and can operate it properly is the way to go, in my mind,” Smith said.

The planned Zephyrhills Tennis Center will be located on 4.7 acres of donated land at The District at Abbott’s Square, a new real estate development situated north of Dean Dairy Road and west of Simons Road.

Renderings unveiled in November show the estimated $2.19 million project includes 10 courts — of which eight are clay and two are hard surface. Plans also show three mini-courts and one exhibition court, built to U.S Tennis Association (USTA) professional standards.

The planned tennis facility is expected to be named the Sarah Vande Berg Memorial Tennis Center, after the former Zephyrhills High School district champion who became a scholarship player on the University of South Carolina Upstate women’s tennis team. Vande Berg, the daughter of the Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg, tragically died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015.

The complex also is expected to feature a pro shop, a multifunctional community room, and two office spaces.

Recreation impact fees from The District at Abbott’s Square and other developments will be used to finance most of the the facility’s construction costs, city officials say.
But, additional frills — such as a clubhouse and observation deck — would likely need to be financed by the city and other funding sources, including, USTA grants, Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grants, Penny for Pasco, and partnerships with Pasco County Parks and Recreation, and Pasco County Tourism.

Once operational, memberships will be required to access the facility.

However, Zephyrhills residents will get a price break.

Officials believe the tennis center could become a national draw for college and USTA-sanctioned events.

Meantime, the facility is expected to be named the Sarah Vande Berg Memorial Tennis Center, after the former Zephyrhills High School district champion who became a scholarship player on the University of South Carolina Upstate women’s tennis team.

Vande Berg, the daughter of the Zephyrhills planning director Todd Vande Berg, died in an automobile accident at the age of 21 in October 2015.

Earlier this month, the council voted unanimously to send the proposed tennis center name to a committee made up of city staffers who will vote on an official recommendation to the council, which is standard procedure under a city resolution that governs the naming of city facilities.

In other action, Zephyrhills City Hall will permanently close June 9, to make way for construction of a new city hall complex, at 5335 Eighth St. The temporary quarters will be housed at 5344 Ninth St.

Beginning June 12, city council meetings will be at the Zephyrhills Public Library, 5347 Eighth St., for approximately one year.

Board meetings, including airport authority and planning commission, will also be at the library, during that period.

Published May 31, 2017

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