VIRGINIA BEACH — A vacant movie theater at the Oceanfront could soon be transformed into an indoor padel facility. Padel, a growing sport that originated in Mexico, is similar to pickleball and tennis.
The developer, BIVI/Padel, LLC, owned by Jason Vickers-Smith, is seeking a conditional use permit to operate the facility at 941 Laskin Road, formerly the home of Beach Cinema Alehouse.
The movie theater closed at the end of August due to financial reasons, its operator said at the time. The property had been a theater since 1991 and was the Oceanfront’s only movie house.
Ascent Church of Virginia Beach sought to move into the building. But the proposal faced a stream of pushback from the community, some of which centered around concerns about traffic affects. Soon after, the church withdrew it application to pursue other options.
The latest proposal for a padel facility includes a 12,000-square-foot expansion in front of the existing building and the potential for the construction of another building to house a restaurant in the east end of the parking lot, according to the developer’s real estate attorney Tyler Rosa, who introduced the project Tuesday to members of a Resort Advisory Commission subcommittee.
The renovated space would hold seven padel courts and one pickleball court, Rosa said. Padel courts are turf surfaces surrounded by glass and mesh walls.
It would be the first indoor padel facility in Hampton Roads.The closest is in Richmond, according to Rosa.
The developer plans to add a mural to the front of the expanded building and install lights and new landscaping in what is now mostly a large barren parking lot visible from Laskin Road.
“It will result in a more green property,” Rosa said.
The Planning Commission could make a recommendation to the City Council on the application early next year.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com