Maryville plans $500,000 Beal Park pickleball court transformation

Maryville is moving a step closer to giving local pickleball players a true outdoor home at Beal Park, where nine dedicated courts would replace six worn tennis courts and a basketball hoop. The project, pegged at about $500,000, would give everyday players a place that is no longer dependent on shared lines, indoor-only space at the community center, or trips to other courts around town.

Maryville Parks and Recreation Director Maggie Rockwood said the city had seen enough demand to justify the work and had pushed the project well past the idea stage. Construction was expected to begin by the end of April, with substantial completion hoped for by summer and final completion by the middle to end of summer. Tarkett Sports Construction was set to handle the build.

The Beal Park plan did not appear overnight. Maryville City Council approved a contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates on March 27, 2025, to design pickleball courts at the site, and the project later moved into the bid stage with a prebid meeting on February 5, 2026, and a bid deadline of February 25, 2026. Bid documents outlined a base bid for six post-tensioned pickleball courts and an optional alternate for nine, with the nine-court version now being pursued. Ashley Serr, PLA of Kimley-Horn, was listed as project manager for the Beal Park Pickleball Court Improvements.

For Maryville players, the change would be more than cosmetic. Rockwood said the current tennis courts at Beal Park had been unusable for years because of weathering, and she noted that Maryville Community Center and the Northwest tennis courts were among the few places residents could currently play. The community center courts are indoors, which leaves the city short on outdoor access at the very time pickleball continues to surge. USA Pickleball said the sport remained the fastest-growing in America for the fourth straight year, and participation had climbed to more than 24.3 million people.

The new layout would also widen what Maryville can do with the sport. Rockwood said she hoped the courts would allow Maryville Parks and Recreation to host its own pickleball tournaments, turning Beal Park into more than a drop-in spot. The courts were planned to be open from sunrise to sundown, and the project fit into a larger recreation system that already includes 12 parks, a community center, a seasonal aquatic center, a seasonal splash pad, and adult sports programs. Maryville’s adult pickleball league is already on the 2026 schedule, a sign that the city is building around a player base that is very much already there.