Highland's first pickleball complex takes shape at Spindler Park
Five courts, added lighting and parking, and a $281,000 bid signal Highland’s first pickleball complex is being built for real traffic, not just casual play.
Five pickleball courts are rising at Spindler Park, and the build already says plenty about where Highland’s game is headed. City officials aimed to open the area by the end of June, giving Highland its first court complex of this kind with added parking and lighting that point to steady use, longer evening play and something more ambitious than a simple park amenity.
The project has moved well beyond paper. Asphalt was laid about a month earlier and now has to cure fully before the final overlay goes down, while fencing and netting are being added to divide the courts. That kind of work matters in pickleball, where court spacing, sight lines and shared access can shape how smoothly open play runs once the first paddles hit the fence line.
The money trail also shows how many pieces had to come together. Highland’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission said on May 20, 2025, that the city had been awarded a PEP grant of $78,929 for the Spindler Park courts. By Aug. 4, 2025, city council agenda materials showed Highland authorizing an application to the Metro East Park and Recreation District FY26 Park and Trail Grant Program. On Nov. 18, 2025, commission minutes said the MEPRD grant had been officially awarded and the project would go out for bid early in 2026, with a goal completion date of April 30.
That bid landed in February. On Feb. 17, 2026, the City of Highland awarded the Spindler Park pickleball court contract to Rooters Construction for PR-15-25, with council minutes recording the award at $281,000. The layered financing, which also leans on donations from community groups and the parks and recreation budget, fits a regional pattern: Madison County awarded Highland Parks and Recreation $112,079 in 2026 for other improvements, and county records show more than $31 million has been distributed through the parks enhancement program over 26 years.
How the courts are being managed may matter just as much as how they were built. Highland’s parks information says the new courts will be open play, first-come, first-served, not reservable courts, a setup that favors quick turnarounds and everyday traffic. Highland already has organized pickleball play for seniors at the Weinheimer Community Center in May, which suggests the Spindler Park complex is arriving into a community that already knows how to use it.
That is why Spindler Park feels bigger than a fresh strip of asphalt and chain link. Five courts, lights, parking and a public open-play model are turning Highland’s first pickleball complex into a statement about demand, and about how seriously the city expects the game to be played once those nets go up.
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