Huntsville opens 25-court pickleball complex at John Hunt Park

Huntsville opened a major new pickleball draw at John Hunt Park with 25 covered, lighted courts and a facility built to handle far more than casual local play. The 60,850-square-foot John Hunt Park Recreation Center sits on 8.5 acres inside the city’s largest park, a footprint officials are betting can turn a routine rec upgrade into a regional stop.

Mayor Tommy Battle cut the ribbon on June 15 as the city moved to position the complex as both a community amenity and a sports-tourism asset. The outdoor setup includes 24 competitive-play courts and one elite-play court, all under an engineered metal structure designed to cut down on rainouts. For traveling groups and tournament directors, that combination of weather protection and court volume is the kind of infrastructure that can extend a tournament from a one-day stop into a full weekend visit.

The rest of the building was designed with multi-use capacity in mind. Inside, the gymnasium can be converted into four high school regulation basketball courts or eight high school regulation volleyball courts, with a fitness room, multipurpose rooms, office space and concessions rounding out the center. City leaders have said the project was designed by William M. Boehme & Associates and built by Fite Building Company, with the $18.5 million investment approved by City Council on August 22, 2024.

Location also matters. The recreation center is at 3035 Leeman Ferry Rd., just north of Joe Davis Stadium and Wicks Family Field, in a part of town the city describes as Huntsville’s Central Sports District for individual recreation and tournament hosting. The site plan included a 298-space parking lot and streetscape improvements to Don Mincher Drive, details that matter when a facility is expected to handle cars, teams and spectators in the same weekend.

Parks and Recreation Director James Gossett has said John Hunt Park projects are built for dual use, attracting competitive play while still serving the public. District 4 Council Member Bill Kling said the center would greatly enrich John Hunt Park with top-notch recreation facilities. With pickleball hours listed Monday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., the city is not treating the complex like a ceremonial ribbon-cutting piece. It is opening as a daily-use venue, and one Huntsville hopes will also pull in the kind of regional traffic that fills hotels as well as courts.