Panama City Beach rebids Frank Brown Park pickleball courts after costs soar

A $1 million pickleball plan at Frank Brown Park turned into a $2.3 million problem, and Panama City Beach is now sending the project back out to bid. City Council voted April 9 to reject the construction agreement and rebid the courts, a sharp reset for a project meant to expand one of the city’s busiest recreation hubs.

The price jump matters because this was never just a simple court add-on. The bid package covered a roughly 1.485-acre site at the southern end of Frank Brown Park and called for covered and uncovered pickleball courts, a restroom facility, stormwater work, water and sanitary sewer connections, and the supporting infrastructure needed to make the site function. That broader scope helps explain why the numbers climbed so far beyond the original budget.

The bidding process had already run its course before council stepped in. The city issued the package on February 6, held a mandatory pre-bid meeting on February 23, and opened bids March 16. By the time the council acted, officials were no longer dealing with a planning concept but with a concrete price tag that forced a choice between pushing ahead and reworking the project.

That rebid could preserve the core pickleball component while trimming or splitting off some of the other amenities. For players, the delay means the region’s newest outdoor courts at Frank Brown Park will take longer to materialize, even as demand keeps building. Frank Brown Park already has three indoor pickleball courts, but the proposed outdoor complex was intended to give Panama City Beach a much larger public footprint for the sport.

The pickleball push has been building for more than two years. In November 2024, local reporting said the city approved a $107,050 engineering phase and was planning 10 outdoor courts at Frank Brown Park. By August 2025, the recreation department had set aside money for eight new pickleball courts and restroom facilities. That shift from 10 courts to eight also shows how the project has already been adjusted before the latest rebid.

Frank Brown Park is one of Panama City Beach’s major recreation centers, with baseball and softball fields, soccer fields, outdoor basketball courts, tennis courts, a Miracle League field, playgrounds, dog parks, a 20-acre festival site and the aquatic center already on site. With that much activity packed into one park, every new amenity has to compete for land, drainage, utilities and capital dollars. The rebid now puts the city back in control of the scope, but it also puts a timer on how quickly one of the area’s most visible pickleball expansions can catch up with demand.