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Three local tech entrepreneurs are working with an Indianapolis-based developer to open a round-the-clock pickleball facility at the last undeveloped former Marsh Supermarkets store in Fishers.
Plans call for the 60,000-square-foot 24/7 Dink Pickleball facility to feature 20 indoor pickleball courts at the former Marsh store at the northeast corner of East 116th Street and Brooks School Road.
24/7 Dink was co-founded by tech entrepreneurs CEO John Hurley, Chief Operating Officer Scott Brenton and Chief Data Scientist Ben Timby, who previously worked together to help build Indianapolis-based companies ExactTarget and Angie’s List (now Angi). They plan to open 24/7 Dink this fall.
Hurley told IBJ that 24/7 Dink is as much of a technology endeavor as a pickleball project. Players will use artificial intelligence and video to analyze their performance, he said.
“It’s kind of like Topgolf,” Hurley said. “If you take the software away, [Topgolf is] a glorified driving range. The software adds an element that allows a lot more people to play and brings people together, and you can’t really have one without the other. So, this really is a software company that happens to have a pickleball facility behind it.”
Hurley said Sportify Labs, which is the tech arm behind 24/7 Dink, will have a 5,000-square-foot, two-story office in the former Marsh store. He plans to employ about 30 people in the tech and marketing side of the business.
Hurley, Brenton and Timby are working with Isaac Bamgbose, CEO of Indianapolis-based New City Development, to develop the plan for 24/7 Dink. Bamgbose owns the property, which would be leased by 24/7 Dink.
24/7 Dink would have a three-tiered per-person price model ranging from $2.50 to $30, depending on if visitors are playing singles or doubles and the time and day they visit the facility.
There would not be a membership fee and people would schedule court times on an app. Players would be able to access the facility any time through a unique QR code on their phone.
“Our absolute No. 1 goal is to democratize the sport [by] allowing everybody to play when they want to play and not feel like you have to go pay $100 or $150 a month to subscribe to play,” he said.
Hurley said he plans to expand 24/7 Dink throughout the country. The next location would be a corporate facility, while subsequent locations could be franchised in the Midwest and in other regions.
“Our goal is to go nationwide with this,” he said.
The Fishers City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a change of use for the former Marsh store. Council members who expressed concerns about how the parking lot will be landscaped and redesigned asked to see a detailed site plan at the council’s next meeting in June.
“24/7 Dink exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship that drives our community forward and embraces technology in a whole new way,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said in written remarks. “This state-of-the-art facility will be a vibrant addition to our city’s recreational offerings.”
The store at 12150 E. 116th St. was one of seven Marsh stores in Fishers that closed in 2017 after the locally based supermarket chain filed for bankruptcy.
In 2017, the city established an overlay zone for two former Marsh store properties at 8766 E. 96th St. and 12520 E. 116th St. and the Kroger at 7272 Fishers Crossing Dr. The ordinance required developers to seek approval for any uses other than another grocery store in order to prevent unwanted uses at those locations.
The former grocery store at 12150 E. 116th St. has been mostly vacant for the past seven years. It was last used in 2021 by the Fishers Health Department as a mass COVID-19 vaccination site.
H&H North, a basketball facility, is expected to open Saturday in part of the former Marsh store at 8766 E. 96th St.
Also, in Carmel, Niemann Harvest Market opened last week at the former Marsh store at the Merchants’ Square shopping center northwest of East 116th Street and Keystone Parkway.
Along with local parks in Fishers, 24/7 Dink would join at least two other developments that will soon offer pickleball courts.
Kansas City, Missouri-based Chicken N Pickle, an indoor/outdoor entertainment complex featuring a casual restaurant, sports bar and pickleball courts, plans to open a location in Fishers later this year in Fishers District, east of Interstate 69 between 106th and 116th streets.
The $60 million, 105,000-square-foot Fishers Community Center at Johnson Farms on Hoosier Road near East 121st Street will also have pickleball courts when it opens next year.
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At least the neighbors can’t complain about the light pollution, traffic, and noise…
Any thoughts on whether pickleball is a fad that will eventually pass? For those old enough to remember, racket ball swept the country 40-50 years ago. Everyone was playing. Facilities were built that today are used for something else or have been torn down.