Lexington reopens rebuilt shared tennis and pickleball courts at Belleau Woods Park

Belleau Woods Park now has two rebuilt courts that can serve both tennis and pickleball, giving Lexington players a cleaner, shared surface where two worn tennis courts once sat. The city reopened the courts on Wednesday at 3770 Forest Green Drive, and the upgrade included new asphalt, new fences and a bench.

The ribbon cutting brought out Mayor Linda Gorton, council members, Parks & Recreation staff, neighbors and players from both sports. District 4 Councilmember Emma Curtis called the courts a long-time dream for neighbors in the area, and Deputy Director Chris Cooperrider pointed to a site that sits close to the sidewalk and entrance while overlooking trees, pollinator plants, a playground and a trail.

What makes the Belleau Woods rebuild matter is not just that it looks better. The courts are double-striped, which lets Lexington stretch one small footprint across two sports instead of forcing pickleball to compete for land with tennis somewhere else. In practical terms, that means more playable time in a neighborhood park that already had court demand, and less pressure to choose one user group over the other. The city is not solving every access problem with two courts, but it is making the existing space work harder.

Mayor Linda Gorton said the double-striped layout is ideal for neighborhood parks, and Belleau Woods fits the city’s broader strategy. Lexington officials said similar shared courts already exist at Lansdowne-Merrick, Mount Tabor, Meadowthorpe and Southland parks, which puts this reopening in line with a citywide pattern rather than a one-off fix.

That pattern has been building since 2023, when Lexington’s parks modernization effort began. In 2025, the city said court upgrades were funded with federal ARPA money, local tax dollars and district reallocation funds, and the combined projects totaled nearly $3 million. Lexington also said that once Cardinal Run Park North is complete, public tennis courts will be available in 15 parks and public pickleball in 13.

Cardinal Run Park North itself covers 137.6 acres and includes six pickleball courts, a sign that Lexington is expanding both sports at the same time. With Lexington Parks & Recreation overseeing more than 100 parks citywide, shared-use courts like Belleau Woods are becoming the city’s practical answer to rising demand: not flashy, but real, and now open for everyday play.