historic Columbus warehouse gets new life as Midtown Pickleball

A long-vacant warehouse on 17th Street in midtown Columbus is getting a second life as Midtown Pickleball, with Larry Bussey behind the effort to restore the old Burnham Van Lines building and bring the sport into a space that had sat idle for years. The structure, described in local video reporting as the former Burnham Van Lines Warehouse, was built around the early 1940s and once housed Burnham Van Service, later Burnham Van Lines, before becoming vacant and now being repurposed for play.

The project fits neatly into the way pickleball is spreading through cities that want more access without starting construction from scratch. Columbus already has pickleball activity at Donner Park on Sycamore and 17th Street, where the Columbus Park Foundation says Columbus Parks and Recreation maintains two courts. The foundation also says the Columbus Pickleball Club helps grow the sport by hosting clinics, organizing play times, and staging tournaments and other events, giving the city a small but active base of organized play.

Midtown Pickleball arrives as part of a broader Columbus push that ties recreation to redevelopment. The Columbus, GA Pickleball Association says it is seeking funding to help build a facility, reduce blight, and create safe, vibrant public spaces that can draw businesses and families back to the area. Columbus Parks and Recreation says its mission is to provide safe, accessible, and diverse recreational opportunities, and it leans on public-private partnerships to make projects like this possible.

That larger momentum is also visible in a separate Columbus Pickleball Association project. In November 2024, the group said it had bought 1641 Third Ave. for $625,000 after earlier plans for a site at the Uptown Water Resources Facility ran into a lot of red tape. City bid documents later described that facility as a 27-court complex with 16 covered courts, bathrooms, concessions, and about 104 parking spaces, while Georgia procurement records listed an estimated budget of $7 million. A January 2025 fire report said the warehouse at 1641 Third Ave. was vacant and marked for recreation and pickleball use.

Taken together, the projects show how pickleball is reshaping older properties across Columbus. Midtown Pickleball turns a historic shell into active court space, while the city’s larger facility plans point to a sport that is no longer content with temporary lines on shared pavement. It is demanding real buildings, real investment, and central locations that can keep players close to the neighborhoods where they already live and work.