Two New Tennis Courts to be Constructed in Columbia

The pair of new tennis courts are going in a high-traffic area of A. Perry Philips, a 140-acre park that is separated by just a road from Gans Creek Recreation Area, a 320-acre park. Ten years ago, the City of Columbia acquired the two properties. At that time “it was nothing out here,” Lowery explained. But that’s changed. An office park, additional professional offices, small businesses, hotel and apartment complex will be in close proximity to the new tennis courts.

“This will be a pretty high-use, high-visible, well-traveled area in the next year or so,” Lowery said. “It’s not like these courts are going to be in the back of a park someplace and only five people know about it. Everybody is going to know these courts are here. It’s going to be a known quantity in town.”

The side of A. Perry Philips Park the courts will reside in is already being heavily developed. A four-court indoor basketball fieldhouse directly across the street from the new tennis facility is about to be expanded. That means basketball, volleyball, pickleball players and others will frequently see the tennis courts.

Grading work on the tennis facility has already begun. With the LWCF grant expiring this September, Lowery hopes the court construction will be wrapped up by then. He added if court usage proves to be strong, grading plans allow for an additional set of courts in the future.

“Just getting these two courts up to a higher level will only drive more use of them and make them more popular,” Lowery said. “‘OK, now we’re getting a lot of tennis players here. Do we want to increase the amount of tennis courts we have on this project?’ If we make these two courts state-of-the-art, does that then roll downhill that we get some more courts in at the same location.”

Leslie Echols, USTA Missouri executive director, said the addition of the two Columbia courts only adds to the district’s recent growth and momentum. The district’s success of luring new players likewise presents a challenge in the form of finding facilities for them to compete at. The pair of courts at A. Perry Philips will help with solving that.

“The grant demonstrates how much players around the district really do want to be out on the court and have those opportunities,” Echols said. “We need places to play. I hope it’s an encouragement for other areas in the district just to see, ‘Hey, this was actually approved and it’s a significant amount.’

“I hope that’s encouraging for the Columbia players. They know, yes, tennis is valued there. And USTA recognizes it’s valued there.”