The U.S. Tennis Association broke ground on their “new home for American tennis” in Orlando during an event attended by project partners, including the Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC), community leaders and tennis officials. The complex will include a divisional headquarters and will be divided into dedicated areas that will focus on the complete tennis pathway – from the youngest players, to recreational players, to collegians and to future professional players. Located in Lake Nona, the facility will also serve as home to the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) tennis program.
The project will create 154 new jobs over three years, more than $60 million in capital investment and is expected to form an innovation and sports performance cluster with other sports-related businesses and associations.
“What a great day this is and what a great example of partnerships as the city, county, state, private development, UCF and the EDC come together to make something like this happen,” said Thad Seymour, president of Lake Nona Institute and senior vice-president of Tavistock Development Company. “We are most excited about the fall of 2016 when we come back here and open the new home of US tennis.”
The 63-acre project was first announced in May 2014. Gordon Smith, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer said during the groundbreaking, “It became clear early on that Orlando was our new home because this is an exciting, energetic place to be.”
“This is a great day for us and for our partners in Orlando,” said Virgil Christian, senior director of market development and collegiate tennis for the USTA. “We can’t be more excited to be here. It took a team of folks to make this possible and they share a passion for Lake Nona and Orlando. We couldn’t be happier to work with the partners we have.”