With the owners of the Golden Gateway Tennis and Swim Club having recently acquired the Tennis Club at 645 Fifth Street, a facility that was once slated to be razed for condos to rise, the proposal for the 165-unit condo, retail, and fitness facility at 8 Washington Street has since shed its replacement tennis courts in favor of “an expanded $10 million outdoor aquatic center and a public children’s playground.”
From the Business Times:
In total, the project will have 29,000 square feet of public open space and parks and 40,000 square feet of recreation. The children’s playground will be 4,500 square feet and will be adjacent to a cafe with outdoor seating. The pool area will be 40 percent larger than what is currently at the club.
Golden Gateway members looking to play tennis would be shuttled in vans to the SoMa club.
I’m a member of this club, but I hadn’t heard this bit of news yet. While I hate to see the outdoor courts go, which are much better suited for quality tennis than those at SFTC by they way, this proposal makes a lot more sense. It’ll allow the public to get more use out of the land, and it’ll be pretty cool to have a high quality aquatic center in SF and a large area for kids to play. Good news in my opinion.
“Golden Gateway members looking to play tennis would be shuttled in vans to the SoMa club.”
Maybe they can make a deal with the Acadamy of Art to share the private van/bus system.
Outdoor pool ….yikes.
It currently has an outdoor pool. I use it all the time – the water temperature is perfect for lap swimming. You do get chilly for about 30 seconds when you hop out during cold days.
I also have a view of the place from my office window. People are in the pools all the time, but I rarely see people using more than one of the tennis courts at any time (5 of the 6 courts are empty right now), so this seems like a pretty reasonable decision and a better use of the space overall.
A.T.,
The club has 9 courts, not 6. They tend to be busy before work, during lunch hour, after work, and on weekends. During work hours on weekdays (which presumably is when you’re in your office), there are often several empty courts. Hardly surprising and I’ll bet you the pool and the gym have similar usage patterns. Most gyms do.
anonanon – yeah, you’re right about the number of courts. My view of the 3 furthest to the north is blocked by the apartment building across the street and I never play tennis there.
The pools always seem to have a fair number of swimmers. I can’t say I see much of the courts before 8:00 or after 6:00 or weekends, so maybe you’re right that this is when they are heavily used.
I agree with anonanon. The 9 courts actually do get use outside of most people’s work hours, and there are many occasions when you can’t get a court. The outdoor pool is actually a huge draw — particularly during the day when the sun is out. I much prefer that to swimming indoors, but that’s just me.