ROWAN COUNTY — Dan Nicholas Park has new pickleball courts after the county’s complete reconstruction of the court area was completed on Tuesday.

Rowan County Parks and Recreation began the process of reconstructing before the 2023 budget was submitted, said Rowan County Parks and Facilities Director Don Bringle. With the support of County Manager Aaron Church and the county commissioners, the courts were added to the county budget as a parks project.

Before the reconstruction, the park had multiple courts that were painted for both tennis and pickleball, but Bringle said that the reconstruction project was requested because there are differences in the courts, such as the net size, and more people were playing pickleball at the park. 

Construction began on the courts after a bid from Carolina Siteworks, Inc. was approved by the commissioners during the Oct. 2, 2023 meeting. The company entered the lowest of two bids at a total of $319,770 and had already worked with the county in the past, listing prior experience constructing the tennis courts at Ellis Park as a reference on their bid documents. The other bid was for a total of $645,490 and was submitted by Cinderella Partners Inc.

According to Carolina’s Siteworks’ bid documents, the county has a one-year warranty on the new courts.

The park still has one tennis court, but the majority of the fenced-in area is made up of the eight new pickleball courts. The courts are open during the park hours and will not require reservations, being first come first serve.