Local Wyndmoor residents knock on the front door of OPUS Pickleball Club daily.

“When is the facility going to open?” they ask owner and Springfield Township Commissioner Ed Morris. “What’s this place going to look like?”

With a grand opening planned for the second week of October, Morris hopes to answer those questions and more when he welcomes the community to OPUS Pickleball. The indoor club is the first of its kind in Northwest Philadelphia. It will house six pro-cushion doubles courts and two pro-cushion singles courts in addition to a Wi-Fi lounge, outdoor patio space, virtual pro shop, and restrooms with showers.

Further, Morris wants to be clear: OPUS is for everyone. Patrons can sign up for a membership or pay the hourly rate.

“We are open to anybody. You don’t have to be a member to play,” he said. “I want you to be in this space. I want you to enjoy being here. I want you to want to be here.”

From shag to shine

Morris took over the dilapidated warehouse adjacent to Mermaid Park (at 900 E. Mermaid Lane) in 2023. Unused since 2017, it was a former facility for George Ford and Sons, a glass manufacturer. Morris negotiated a lease from the new owner, who purchased the property in 2022, but it was immediately evident a huge amount of work would have to go into the building before it was usable.

The lobby floor was draped in shag carpet and wood paneling covered walls near the front office. Fiberglass insulation had fallen from the ceiling, and cinder blocks littered the floor. Ancient, floral-patterned wallpaper decorated the bathroom walls.

Getting the building back into shape involved a host of plumbers, architects, engineers, and more. Morris said he went through at least six general contractors before finally settling on a plan from the right one.

“I love being part of taking something from an underutilized, underused asset and converting it to something that can be enjoyed, used, and [made] better for the community,” he said.

Though his lease of the building was opportunistic (he couldn’t pass up the chance when the warehouse was on the market), Morris nursed a lifelong love of pickleball.

Gym teachers make a mark

At the William Penn Charter School in the early 1990s, physical education teacher Rick Mellor went to a conference and was sold pickleballs as practice implements for indoor baseball. He quickly discovered they were unusable for baseball and began a pickleball program in gym class. Then-student Morris and his schoolmates were hooked.

“[Mellor] and Debbie White, the gym teachers, taught everybody pickleball, and it caught fire,” Morris remembered. “So I’ve been around [the sport] for a very long time.”

Morris was quick to clarify, though, that he hasn’t brought OPUS Pickleball to life just because of his own enthusiasm for the sport. “I started this because there was a need in the community, and I thought that we could fill it and we could do it right,” he said. “I thought that we could do it in a way that people could experience the space, appreciate the space, and we could differentiate ourselves.”

There are no other dedicated indoor pickleball courts near Wyndmoor, let alone in Northwest Philadelphia, an area where pickleball’s prime demographic of upper-middle-class individuals is prevalent.

Wyndmoor resident and Springfield Township Ward 2 Commissioner Susanna Ratsavong is excited to see how the development brings the community together.

“Our township is working on a nearby recreation center plan that will incorporate indoor court sport opportunities to offer those who may not be ready to take the leap into the sport a chance to try it as well. That is still some time away, so it’s great that another space will be able to report back on that demand,” she said.

She hopes OPUS will encourage additional shoppers and residents to explore the area, perhaps meeting up at the club before walking over to East Willow Grove Avenue for a bite to eat, and then stopping at Mermaid Park.

Filling a need

Brian Galinkin, another local resident and administrator at Kearsley Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, noticed that for community members who want to play pickleball, the closest option is the tennis courts at Wyndmoor’s Wyndhill Park, which are often busy.

“There are usually people that either want to play tennis or other people that want to play pickleball,” he said. “So I think there’s definitely a need [for a dedicated facility].”

Morris has lived almost his entire life within a few-mile radius of Wyndmoor. After growing up in Cheltenham and attending the University of Pittsburgh, he moved back to the area where he was raised and his family lives, in Mt. Airy and Cedarbrook.

Getting OPUS correct and doing right by the community that raised him is important to Morris. He welcomes almost everyone who comes knocking at the door for a tour. Clearly, he’s excited about the project and can’t wait to share it with his neighbors.

This article was updated to reflect the correct opening date of OPUS Pickleball.