EKM Sports Inc. expects to close on its purchase of the Lyme Shores Tennis & Conditioning Center in East Lyme, Conn. on June 17 and rechristen the property as Lyme Shores Racquet Club. Planned upgrades include increased lighting and resurfacing of the club’s six indoor tennis courts. Eventually, all nine of the club’s tennis courts—it has three outdoors—will be lined for pickleball, as well as tennis.
EKM Sports Inc., owner of the South Bend (Ind.) Racquet Club and interested in purchasing other tennis clubs around the country, expects to close on its purchase of the Lyme Shores Tennis & Conditioning Center in East Lyme, Conn. on June 17, The Day reported. EKM intends to rechristen the property as Lyme Shores Racquet Club.
Most of the exercise equipment—treadmills, rowing machines, benches and dumbbells—already have been donated to East Lyme High School, according to Juan Maldonado, whom EKM Sports has installed as Lyme Shores’ General Manager, The Day reported.
Lyme Shores’ selling price was not disclosed, The Day reported. The property was appraised last year at $1.43 million, land records show.
Maldonado told The Day that EKM Sports’ president, Eric Moore, intends to model Lyme Shores after the South Bend facility Moore acquired in 1997. Lyme Shores will focus on tennis and pickleball.
East Lyme pickleball enthusiasts recently petitioned town officials over the lack of outdoor pickleball courts, The Day reported.
Moore announced in a post on Lyme Shores’ website that he plans to make a substantial investment in the property over the next two years, The Day reported. Planned upgrades include increased lighting and resurfacing of the club’s six indoor tennis courts, as well as an evaluation of whether to add air conditioning to them.
Eventually, all nine of the club’s tennis courts—it has three outdoors—will be lined for pickleball as well as tennis, The Day reported. A new lounge and a pro shop selling tennis and pickleball apparel and gear will replace the fitness area.
Moore informed Lyme Shores members that the decision to discontinue the fitness component of the business was driven by “economic issues,” The Day reported. Fitness members’ dues will be refunded.
Many tennis clubs like Lyme Shores initially pursued the fitness route in the 1980s, Maldonado told The Day, and gradually have relinquished it to outlets like Planet Fitness.
Tennis, meanwhile, reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s and 2000s, according to Joe Kiah, a Lymes Associates partner, who said Lyme Shores’ total membership peaked at about 600 members during the period, including about 150 fitness members, The Day reported. He said tennis is now making a comeback.
“During COVID-19, it was the only sport parents would let their kids play,” Kiah said.
Lyme Shores closed for six months amid the pandemic and wouldn’t have survived without a government loan, Kiah told The Day. Since then, the club’s junior tennis program enjoyed its highest enrollment ever last summer and expects another good season this year.
Currently, Lyme Shores’ membership numbers about 150, most of whom are older than 50 years of age.
“Definitely, we can double it,” Maldonado said of membership, citing the anticipated effect of renovations and the appeal of pickleball, which he said has a “very sociable” aspect, The Day reported. Played in an area half the size of a tennis court, it’s not as physically demanding as tennis, he said.
Lyme Shores will seek to increase memberships among those 40 years old and younger and people living outside the immediate area, The Day reported.
“Our goal is to be the epicenter of tennis and pickleball in the area,” Maldonado said.
According to Kiah, nonmembers have at times provided as much as 40% of Lyme Shores’ annual revenue, The Day reported, paying per-visit rates that are higher than those members pay.
Kiah, who recalled Lyme Shores had a restaurant and a bar in its early days, began searching online last year for a potential buyer, The Day reported. At the same time, Moore had posted his interest in acquiring an existing tennis facility. Communications that led to the Lyme Shores’ transaction began in September.
“We felt a loyalty to the membership to keep it going rather than sell it as a commercial property to be turned into a warehouse or something,” Kiah said.
He recalled that Lymes Associates—“a bunch of tennis players”—had a similar motivation when they acquired the business in 1981, The Day reported. He said people like George Ulrich, a former General Manager and Tennis Director Emeritus; Andre Danford, General Manager of facilities; and Theresa Pearl, a former General Manager and current Business Manager, have kept Lyme Shores going.
Now it’s in EKM Sports’ hands, The Day reported.
“These guys are professional tennis operators with a proven record of success,” Kiah said. “This is the best thing for the future of tennis in this area. They’re going to make it much better.”
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.