Fredericksburg, Texas, is a Hill Country town of about 14,000 people, better known for peach orchards and wine trails than sports infrastructure.
It's about to get a $16 million racquet center. And taxpayers aren't paying for it.
Ground breaks April 27 on the first phase of the Fredericksburg Racquet Center, a four-phase project that will eventually include 15 tennis courts, 16 pickleball courts, a clubhouse, playground, and walking trail spread across 20 acres. The price tag is significant for any market. For a town this size, it's massive.
But the funding model is what makes this worth your attention.
How You Build a $16 Million Facility Without a Bond
The project is a partnership between the city of Fredericksburg (which owns the 20-acre lot on Friendship Lane) and the Fredericksburg Tennis Center Foundation, a nonprofit created specifically to raise the $16 million. So far, the foundation and its partners, including the Austin-based Fueling Tennis Futures Foundation and local community leaders, have raised roughly $5 million toward that goal.
Phase 1 is a $5.5 million build that includes eight tennis courts, eight pickleball courts, a 1,650-square-foot clubhouse, parking (approximately 118 spaces), a half-mile ADA-compliant walking trail, and a 15,000-square-foot playground (with an estimated $300,000 in equipment funded in part by Rotary and other local donors). The city approved the site plan, and permitting is underway.
Here's the structure: the city contributes the land through a long-term lease. The nonprofit raises the capital. No public bond. No taxpayer financing on the facility itself.
Three parties. Zero municipal debt.
Who Runs It
RPM Academy, a tennis and pickleball instruction group relocating from Austin, will operate the facility and handle programming for all ages. The model mirrors how Fredericksburg already runs its Lady Bird Johnson Golf Course: city-owned land, third-party operator, public access.
Court rental fees are projected between $7.50 and $10, in line with other community courts across Texas. The center will also offer leagues, clinics, camps, and tournaments. Free monthly junior clinics are planned specifically to lower barriers for youth participation, and tournament proceeds will fund junior development scholarships.
Why Investors and Operators Should Be Watching This
The Fredericksburg model checks several boxes that don't usually show up together in a single project.
It's a proof of concept for small-market facility funding. City provides the land. Nonprofit raises the capital. Professional operator runs the programming. Nobody is overleveraged, and the facility stays publicly accessible. That three-legged structure de-risks the project for everyone involved and is replicable in dozens of similar markets.
The demand isn't speculative. Fredericksburg's Parks Master Plan identified a clear shortage of courts. Players from both the local tennis and pickleball associations have been sharing six courts at Lady Bird Johnson Park and borrowing time at the high school and middle school. This facility isn't chasing demand. It's catching up to it.
Tourism adds a revenue layer most youth sports facilities don't have. Fredericksburg draws significant visitor traffic, and the city is explicitly positioning the racquet center as an attraction for tourists passing through, not just a locals-only amenity. That secondary customer base changes the unit economics.
Takeaways for Investors
Small markets can support serious racquet facilities. Fredericksburg isn't a major metro, but the demand data from its Parks Master Plan was strong enough to justify a $16 million, multi-phase build. Operators shouldn't overlook smaller markets with clear supply gaps.
The public-private nonprofit model reduces risk. City provides land. Nonprofit raises capital. Third-party operator runs programming. This structure is replicable anywhere a municipality has underutilized land and a motivated donor base.
Pickleball demand is reshaping facility planning. The court mix here (nearly equal tennis and pickleball) reflects what's happening nationally. Any new racquet facility build that doesn't account for pickleball demand is leaving money on the table.
