Stamford reopens Scalzi Park with tennis and pickleball courts

Scalzi Park is back in play with 10 renovated tennis courts and six new pickleball courts, a setup that makes Stamford’s largest recreational area feel like a real mixed-format stop instead of a single-sport patch job. The city marked the reopening on May 22 and said the work was funded by a $200,000 grant from USTA New England, which is exactly the kind of outside backing cities need when they want to add court capacity without turning tennis and pickleball into a fight over pavement.

The details matter here. Stamford said the rebuild included blended court lines, new fencing and LED lighting, the sort of upgrades that change how a park actually plays. Blended lines let one surface carry both sports cleanly, fencing keeps the action moving, and lighting buys usable evening hours for the after-work crowd. Stamford described the finished space as modern, accessible and welcoming for residents of all ages, and that fits the way pickleball is getting folded into park planning now, as a permanent use rather than a novelty painted onto old courts.

Scalzi Park sits at 97 Bridge St. and already anchors a lot of Stamford’s outdoor recreation. The facility also includes basketball and volleyball courts, running and hiking trails, a playground, a bocce ball court and Cubeta Stadium, so the tennis and pickleball rebuild lands inside a busy public complex rather than at an isolated sports site. Construction on the Scalzi Park Tennis Court Reconstruction Project began Oct. 1, with city officials aiming to get players back on the courts in the spring. Residents who had been using the old courts called them outdated, and one local reaction summed up the mood bluntly: “It’s about time. This is great.”

Stamford had previously put the Scalzi work inside a broader $6.4 million package of park improvements, which helps explain why the reopening feels bigger than a court refresh. Stamford Recreation is already promoting spring and summer pickleball programming on the new dedicated courts, a sign that the city expects steady drop-in play and organized use, not just an opening-day spike.

That is the real value of the Scalzi rebuild. Stamford did not just repaint lines and call it progress. It reopened a major park with enough court space and supporting infrastructure to keep tennis and pickleball moving together, which is what a useful urban racquet-sports stop looks like now.