BallenIsles Country Club members recently approved a $19 million dollar renovation and expansion project of the club’s existing Sports Complex. The Club, one of the more exclusive addresses in Palm Beach Gardens, FL., will now begin formalizing agreements with architects and contractors and start the regulatory approval process.
Construction is expected to begin on the phased project in late 2023, with project completion slated by the end of 2024.
The current 65,000 square-foot,. Sports Complex was built in 2009 and includes 7,000 square feet of fitness and workout facilities that overlook the resort-style pool and Racquet Sports Complex. The Sports Complex also includes a Pilates studio, on-site physical therapy, dining at the Bistro 105 and poolside Skinny Palms, racquets shop, lounge space and a full-service Cosmo & Company Salon and Spa.
The approved renovation and expansion project includes the addition of a porte cochère, a new 3,000 square foot racquets shop, fitness facility improvements, a new Members Lounge, an all-new Aquatics Complex complete with a poolside bar and dining venue and a first of its kind Arts Center.
The main pool will be expanded to accommodate more users, including additional space for exercise users, lap lanes fully dedicated to lap swimming, and more pool seating. The new Arts Center will be available for all BallenIsles Members to practice and partake in programs around visual and performing arts.
“We have spent close to two years planning, tweaking, adding and deleting to the Sports Club Project based on member feedback,” said BallenIsles Country Club General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Walls. “After working on various versions of the plans, we believe we have both a fiscally responsible project, and one that delivers, purposely, a little bit for everyone.”
The Sports Complex project is the latest in a number of amenity improvements at BallenIsles Country Club. Crews are currently finishing a multi-million dollar renovation project of the club’s famed East Course and Practice Grounds. Led by the Nicklaus Design team, Walls said renovations have focused on modernizing the course’s design, including bunkering, greens complexes and strategy, a complete re-grassing of the course and improvements to playing options for members and tournament players.
The reimaged Practice Grounds incorporates a new 65-bay, two-sided Long Game area, complete with Toptracer technology. The Short Game area features a 25,000 square-foot putting course, five pitching and chipping greens, warm-up green and the world’s flattest putting green. The area is centered around the newly built ’71 Learning Center, scheduled to be completed by April 2023.
The renovation of the East Course follows the construction of a $1.3 million pickleball complex in 2021; the 2020 redesign of BallenIsles’ South Course by Rees Jones; and a 2018 $35 million dollar clubhouse renovation.
Photo: BallenIsles Country Club Sports Complex (BallenIsles CC)