Mitch Morse and Alexander McCarty have been looking for the perfect Johnson County spot for an Ace Pickleball Club for more than 18-months.
Now they have leased a 30,000-square-foot space at 1445 S. Mahaffie Circle in Olathe.
Their Ace Pickleball Club will offer 11 indoor courts on a monthly membership model, along with an event space. They are taking construction bids and hope to open later this year.
Morse and McCarty also own an online business, Premium Outdoor Grills, and were looking for another business opportunity. They are avid pickleball players so they knew there was a need for more high-quality indoor facilities in the metro.
“The demand for courts is really high,” Morse said. “And we loved their vision to build a membership model built on community.”
They have 11 other investors including lead investor and advisor Brian DeFrain. De Frain has been active in the Kansas City area pickleball community for more than a decade.
Ace Pickleball Club was founded in 2022 and began franchising in early 2023.
The first club opened in Roswell, Georgia, in mid-2023. Now there are nearly a dozen locations in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Three are corporate owned and eight are franchises.
Another 16 leases are signed including the Olathe location, just east of Interstate 35. It expects to open 25 to 30 locations this year.
Joe Sexton, co-founder and president of Ace, said more than 100 franchises are sold and will be developed in coming years.
While many pickleball clubs operate on a reservation system, he said Ace Pickleball Club functions more like a gym. It offers open play during operating hours. Courts are divided by skill level – beginner, intermediate and advanced. For more information on the new Olathe club, visit: https://www.acepickleballclub.com/olathe-ks
Read more about the world’s first compostable pickleball made in KC here.
