Palm Beach homes: Palm Beach officials have approved the town’s first padel court , which is expected to be installed at casino and resort mogul Steve Wynn’s estate on South Ocean Boulevard.
The Palm Beach Architectural Commission Wednesday agreed to play ball, of sorts, with casino-and-resort billionaire Steve Wynn, who won the board’s approval to install a padel court in the back yard of his oceanfront manse at the south end of Billionaires Row.
So you might ask: What’s padel? And that’s just what commissioners wanted to know.
Turns out it’s a combination of tennis — thanks to the center net — and racquetball, played on a prefabricated but customized court measuring 33 feet wide by 66 feet long. Players slam the ball on the rear and side walls, but the ball must always clear the net to remain in play.
The court’s faux-turf surface will be surrounded on all sides by a coated-steel frame that supports walls made of safety glass and mesh. The fencing stands a little more than 13½ feet at its highest point.
It came as no surprise that few on the dais appeared familiar with the game: The court is the first of its kind ever to be approved for installation at a Palm Beach property, officials said.
Officials got their first look at the Wynns’ request for the padel court last month, when the board was told that the proposed version was patterned after one owned by motivation guru Tony Robbins at his Manalapan estate.
But commissioners weren’t happy in January with the location Wynn had chosen for his — just outside a side entrance on the south side of the house at 1960 S. Ocean Blvd. near Sloan’s Curve. The board ended up deferring the project for a month after demanding more detailed plans.
And when the project was re-presented this week, the court had been shifted to the northwest corner of the property with its longest side fronting the Intracoastal Waterway. Immediately to the north, on the other side of a hedge, is a neighbor’s tennis court.
From the “Palm Beach Daily News”
The court will be installed by PadelBox LLC in the next few months. Brand new ALLGLASS model including new design with an unobstructed view from back and side walls.
