Long Beach Tennis Center Could See ‘Significant Investment’ After Lease Extension, City Council Says

LONG BEACH, NY — The Long Beach tennis center could be set for a bit of a makeover after the lease for its operator was extended at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

The commercial lease on the tennis center was extended in 2023 to run through Aug. 31, 2028 with an annual rent of $102,000. Tuesday night, a resolution authorizing City Manager Dan Creighton to extend that lease was adopted unanimously.

According to City Manager Dan Creighton, the current manager of the tennis center — who will remain the manager under a new title — is in the process of securing financing to make improvements to the tennis center, but told the city he was having difficulty securing investors due to the short time remaining on the lease.

“The management there wants to convert one bubble into a multi-sports complex, rather than just tennis," Creighton said. "He also wants to do a resurfacing of the ground at one of the bubbles, the tennis side of it, which would be the closer one to the clubhouse. He also wants to put in solar, and he’s also looking to put in, I believe, a new HVAC system.”

Additionally, Creighton said the current management of the tennis center want to put “a significant amount of money” into the tennis center clubhouse, “to make it more inviting to patrons.”

“He has reached out to several financial institutions to get the loans he needs to do it, but with such a short time remaining on his lease they were not willing to give him the loan. So he asked for us to extend his lease; with that came a significant increase to what we feel is a fair market value.”

The new lease will run through the 2035-36 fiscal year, with rent starting at $150,000 in 2026-27 and increasing annually as follows:

2026-2027: $150,000 ($12,500.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2027-2028: $154,500 ($12,875.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2028-2029: $159,135 ($13,261.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2029-2030: $163,909 ($13,659.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2030-2031: $168,826 ($14,068.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2031-2032: $173,891 ($14,490.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2032-2033: $179,107 ($14,925.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2033-2034: $184,481 ($15,373.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2034-2035: $190,015 ($15,834.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

2035-2036: $195,715 ($16,309.00 payable on the 1st of each month)

City Councilman Michael Reinhart called the situation “standard operating procedure.”

“If you want a business to invest a sizable capitol investment in it, we have to give them a bit of security,” Reinhart said. “I was happy to hear that the rent actually did come up to, maybe, a more fair, market value.”

City council members said the new sports center would be “all-encompassing,” accommodating baseball, lacrosse, cricket, pickleball and other sports.