Aces All Around at Swim and Racquet Club
The proposal represented a challenge – and an opportunity – never before faced by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District.
In the late 1990s the Dason Corporation decided it wanted to sell the Racquet Club of Boca Raton.
In the two decades leading up to the turn of the century, the District had successfully created Patch Reef and Sugar Sand Parks, but those parks were created, essentially, from a blank canvas – undeveloped land.
By purchasing the Racquet Club of Boca Raton, District commissioners tasked themselves with converting what had been a private club into a public facility.
In 2000 the $3.75 million purchase of the 14 acres located on St. Andrews Blvd between Glades and Palmetto Park roads became official.
“It is a valuable acquisition because Boca Raton is deficient in clay courts and pools,” then-Commissioner Dirk Smith told the Boca Raton News. “There is a significant need now – and for the future – for recreation.”
The acquisition doubled the amount of public pools in Boca Raton, helping to alleviate overcrowding at Meadows pool. The 26 tennis courts nearly doubled the amount of public courts in Boca Raton, and became the community's first public clay courts.
All of this prompted then-mayor Carol Hanson, at one point an opponent of the plan, to call the purchase “exciting news” for the city, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Within a year District Commissioners dropped the single person membership rate more than $500 per year. The family rate fell more than $1,000.
“We need to make sure the District residents who paid out of their pockets to buy [the club] have reasonable access to it,” Smith told the Boca Raton News.
Upgrades to the tennis courts prompted the USTA to name the Racquet Center an Outstanding Facility of the Year in 2005.
“When you get those kind of recreation awards it lets you know you are doing something good for the community,” said Commissioner and tennis aficionado Bob Rollins.
The Boca Raton community quickly embraced the facility and fee structure, but other challenges remained.
Along with the tennis courts and pool, the property also contained Chuck's Steakhouse – but not for long.
In 2005 the owners of Chuck's Steakhouse bought out the remainder of their lease. That same year, Hurricane Wilma severely damaged the building.
With the restaurant vacant, the District unsuccessfully attempted to find a new tenant. For years the inhabitable portions of the decaying building served as storage and lifeguard changing rooms.
By 2014, more than 30,000 members of the Boca Raton community were enjoying the Swim and Racquet Center. At that point the District decided to tear down the remnants of Chuck's Steakhouse to create a facility useful to the community.
The Swim and Racquet community center opened in 2019, providing the Boca Raton community with new locker rooms and meeting rooms, along with a new headquarters for the District.
Initially elected in 2010, Commissioner Suzi Vogelgesang credits Briann Harms, now the District's Executive Director, with shaping the improved Swim and Racquet Center.
“Briann had a huge vision that we should move our headquarters over here and it was a good one,” said Vogelgesang. “We can accommodate more of the public. The community uses the meeting rooms downstairs. And I think the public has more access than they do at Sugar Sand right now.”
Along with a new building, the upgrades included a new splash pad and playground for children.
“It's just a perfect fit for the community,” Rollins said. “We just felt like there was more that we could do with this footprint than what was there.”
In 2021, upgrades to courts and the pro shop once again prompted the USTA to name the Tennis Center an Outstanding Facility of the Year.
The Boca Raton Community is always welcome to visit the Boca Raton Swim and Racquet Center. District residents in particular are invited to join Commissioners on the first and third Mondays of every month at 5:15 p.m. for their public meetings. They are conducted in the conference room on the second floor.
This story is part of series that will run through the remainder of 2024 highlighting the District's Top Accomplishments during its first 50 years. Other stories as part of the series include:
The Boca Raton Swim and Racquet Center community center.
A swimmer doing laps at the Swim Center.
The Racquet Center is the site of numerous USTA junior tennis tournaments each year.