The $9 million Long Reach Tennis Club is scheduled to open in the spring. The club will feature six climate-controlled courts with viewing areas and hard court surfaces, locker rooms with showers and an on-site racket stringing service. “The project was designed that could serve all types of tennis players in the community,” says Anish Manrai, Columbia Association’s assistant director of sport and fitness.
Manrai says the tennis program in Columbia grew from around 5,000 participants to almost 7,000 in the past three years. Officials felt the new facility, which will replace the 17-year-old Owen Brown Tennis Club and Bubble, was necessary to accommodate the increased interest in tennis. The bubble “is well past its useful lifespan,” Manrai says. “We needed a new club to continue to engage our current members and to create an environment to attract new players.”
The tennis bubble currently has five indoor courts and seven outdoors. Once Long Reach opens, the indoor courts will be converted to outdoor courts, which will increase the association’s tennis areas from 33 to 39 including facilities at Wilde Lake Tennis Club, Columbia Athletic Club and The Racquet Club at Hob¬bit’s Glen. The addition of Long Reach, says Manrai, will mean more clubs are available—and convenient—to members.
