Oct. 28—First Serve New Mexico’s board of directors had to make a quick pivot when a downpour of rain swept across New Mexico earlier this month, jeopardizing an annual fundraiser that doubled as a preview of its new Forked Lightning Racquet Club complex.
The board was able to move the event to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, where they set up a net indoors for professional players and First Serve students to play tennis and pickleball. Prior to the move, the players and students had planned to play on the facility’s mostly finished outdoor courts near the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds.
Despite the rain and quick change of plans, board member Staci Stevens said the event ended up being a “record-breaking fundraiser” for the nonprofit, which was co-founded by the late married couple Richard and Eleanor Brenner in 2003 to support underserved Santa Fe youth with free academic tutoring and tennis programs.
Serving students at Santa Fe’s schools, public courts and school gyms, Eleanor Brenner always dreamed of creating a complex the organization and its students could call home. A chance meeting between a First Serve head coach and Kimberly Sheffield in 2018 kick-started that dream with an initial $5,000 donation from Sheffield.
Kimberly and Scott Sheffield, part-time Santa Fe residents and Texas oil magnates, poured gasoline on the dream after connecting with Eleanor Brenner and agreeing to fully fund the project after the coronavirus pandemic stunted First Serve’s fundraising efforts.
The cost of the project, originally estimated at $6 million, over the last few years turned into $12 million, then $13 million and finally about $20 million, said First Serve board president Angelique Lowry. Lowry said the Sheffields are funding 98% of the project, while the United States Tennis Association is covering the remaining 2%.
Just as the cost has changed, so has the timeline. Construction began in September 2022 and completion was predicted for the first half of 2024. Permitting obstacles pushed the project back further than originally expected.
“It was a strenuous permitting process,” said general manager T.J. Middleton. “I think the property was in the county, but we needed the city and county, so we had to jump through all the hoops for both, and so that took probably a year longer than we imagined.”
Project manager Joel Krypel agreed.
“The paperwork part of it was just unbelievably excruciating because the bureaucratic part of things never goes smoothly,” Krypel said. “So once we kind of got past all that stuff, then it kind of ramped up super fast.”
J.M. Evans Construction had a busy spring and summer, finishing up most of the facility’s outdoor courts. Upon completion, the complex will have six indoor and six outdoor tennis courts, two indoor and seven outdoor pickleball courts and three outdoor padel courts. These padel courts will be New Mexico’s first.
Padel, a racquet sport that combines tennis and squash, might be the next pickleball: There were over 25 million active padel players in over 110 countries as of December 2023, according to the International Federation of Padel. According to Middleton and Krypel, the padel courts, which were installed by a company from Spain, are similar to pickleball courts in size but are surrounded by walls about 13 feet high and made of tempered glass. The surface is artificial turf instead of hard rubber.
Middleton, who is a former professional tennis player and Wimbledon champion, described the sport as “a little more challenging but … a really cool game” to now have in Santa Fe.
Lowry said future tournaments and growing the tennis and racquet sport community in Santa Fe are part of First Serve’s vision for the complex, as it will be for both First Serve students and community members who join the private club.
According to Lowry, the club will have the capacity to accept about 400 members. Currently, the plan is for the first 200 members to pay an initial fee of $1,500 and the last 200 members to pay $2,000. After the initial fee, family and single memberships will be available at $180 per month. A portion of the fees will be given to First Serve as a tax-deductible donation to support their work in serving 100 to 200 students yearly across 23 schools.
Students will be able to use the courts from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with members able to access the courts the remaining open hours. When not on the court, students can access tutoring as well as planned lectures and activities in classrooms equipped with smart boards, tables and more. The campus will also include an administrative building and a facility with locker rooms, restrooms and a workout center.
The interior framework of the school building is up and Krypel said he hopes to get the roof on it in about a month.
“We’re going to keep going until the weather is a showstopper. But otherwise, I anticipate constant progress this winter more than last year, because we’re going to have enclosed spaces to work in,” Krypel said.
The hope is to complete the project in time for a June 1 grand opening, but mid- to late June might be more realistic factoring in potential inspection holdups, said Krypel, who plans to retire after finishing what he said is not just a job but his “legacy project.”
“I’ve done $5 million residential houses since I’ve been here for 30 years,” Krypel said. “Everything I’ve done up to this point is just for super-wealthy people to have a place. This is going to be for the community, and that’s kind of rewarding.”
For Lowry, the Sheffields and the First Serve community, the project is also a dream fully realized. Though the dreamer didn’t get to see it before she died of cancer at age 89 last year, Lowry said the classrooms will have Eleanor Brenner’s touch, displaying artwork she designed and furniture she picked.
Lowry, a close friend of Brenner’s, joked Brenner once told her, “Do not name it after me,” referring to the complex.
To which Lowry said, “Well, I’m going to name something after you,” adding it could be something as small as a bench.
A moment passed, Lowry said, before Brenner relented and said, “OK.”
