SAN JOSE — Bay Padel signed a lease with Google to take space at a downtown San Jose building in a deal that will bring a new racket sports venue to the Bay Area’s largest city.
The 28,000-square-foot venue, which will feature a sport that’s a mixture of indoor tennis and squash, will be located in a commercial building near the corner of West San Fernando Street and South Montgomery Street, near the SAP Center and Diridon train station.
“Downtown San Jose is a marquee location for us,” said Lucas Tepman, who teamed up in 2023 with Matias Gandulfo to co-found Bay Padel.
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Mark Ritchie, president of Ritchie Commercial, represented Bay Padel in the deal, along with a recent lease for a Sunnyvale venue. Ritchie also is helping the sports company scout for more locations, according to Tepman.
“We like the conglomerate of commercial and residential in downtown San Jose,” Tepman said. “We love being around the big tech companies and biotech companies, as well as tapping into the residential market. San Jose is very family-oriented and has a lot of Latino and European influences.”
The Bay Padel venue in San Jose would be located within the footprint of the Google-proposed Downtown West transit-oriented neighborhood of homes, shops, restaurants, office buildings, cultural loops and entertainment hubs. In 2023, Google paused development.
“It’s a great reuse for that building,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy. “More activation in that area is just good overall. This helps meet the city’s goals of attempting to stitch downtown districts together.”
Padel is often the second-most-popular sport behind soccer in locations such as Europe, South America and Central America, according to Tepman. These trends suggest the Bay Area and California could be fertile ground for Bay Padel, Tepman said.
Bay Padel operates two sites in San Francisco. In mid-July, it opened a Sunnyvale location.
“Our Sunnyvale location is already at more than 85% capacity in peak hours, which is great,” Tepman said.
Over a period of a few years starting in 2016, Google assembled many properties on the western edges of downtown San Jose. Currently, Downtown West remains largely undeveloped while Google assesses the timeline for its future neighborhood.
To keep at least some of its properties active, Google and its real estate partner, Jamestown, have leased space in the Creekside section of Downtown West to more merchants.
“All the place-making that Google is creating in Downtown West is beneficial for the downtown,” said Leah Toeniskoetter, president of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. “Anything that activates an area is something we’d like to see more of.”
Along with the upcoming Bay Padel venue, the Creekside hub also hosts Hapa’s Creekside beer garden and taproom, Good Karma Bikes, and The Lot, a site for restaurant and outdoor entertainment activities.
“Bay Padel Clubs is bringing the nation’s fastest-growing sport to downtown San Jose’s fastest-growing neighborhood, Creekside,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, noting it’s near the home ice of the San Jose Sharks hockey team.
Tepman hopes he and co-founder Gandulfo will be able to open the venue by year’s end.
“We have to go through the city permitting process,” Tepman said. “Once we get our permits, our construction typically takes about two months to get a site ready to open.”
Enrique Corcuera, a Mexican businessman, is credited with inventing padel in 1969 when he determined that his residence didn’t have enough room for a standard outdoor tennis court. Corcuera modified his squash court to accommodate components of tennis.
In padel, the ball can bounce off — and be played off — a glass wall or metal mesh that surrounds the court. The game is usually played in a two-on-two format.
Tepman wants the downtown San Jose club to open in time to benefit from the major sports events headed to the South Bay. The Super Bowl will be played in Santa Clara, several games of the men’s NCAA college basketball tournament will take place in downtown San Jose, and some matches of the FIFA World Cup are slated to be held in Santa Clara.
“The big sporting events will help, 100%,” Tepman said. “We want to be part of the activities related to the FIFA World Cup.”
Tepman hopes Bay Padel will have six to seven clubs operating in California or the West Coast by the end of the year.
“Our San Jose Padel club will have the padel courts outside, and we will have a pretty big fitness room inside,” Tepman said. “We will have some lounges inside.”