EAGLE, Idaho — The Eagle Tennis Club has been a staple for indoor tennis playing for nearly a decade.
The club was opened by Kara Hoge, a tennis player wanting to help with the shortage of indoor courts. She only owns the tennis club, not the property.
Caleb Roope, the property owner, has decided to sell it to Life Time Fitness, a national country club chain. Roope confirmed with KTVB that the sale for $8 million is scheduled to go through Nov. 1.
He added that he nor ETC would profit from the sale. It's unclear why.
The club, which has over 900 members, including some of the top high school tennis players in the state, sent an email to members dated Oct. 12, letting them know that in two weeks, the club would close permanently.
"I was out with some friends, and my brother called me and he was like, you have to come home, like, now," Owen McPeak, a senior at Rocky Mountain High School and member at ETC told KTVB.
Owen and his twin brother, Eliott McPeak both qualified for the Ftwostate championship last season. They've been training at ETC for several years and call it their home court.
"We all come here, we play together, we practice, we push all of each other to become better," Eliott McPeak said about the culture of ETC.
The McPeak brothers said the closure came as a surprise to many of the members and employees.
ETC owner, Hoge, denied an interview with KTVB, stating she's been advised to not speak. She didn't provide any context when asked why.
"The timing of it is what I'm struggling with," Kevin Lampone said. He's an ETC member who plays in the adult league and has a 7-year-old son in the junior program. "No one told the people that played tennis here that was going to be happening until, like, two weeks before it was going to be shut down."
Sophia Jacobs, an Eagle High School student, also went to the state championship last year - losing to her teammate, Tatyana Larsen.
Jacobs is also without a home with the closure of ETC.
"This place is very meaningful for a lot of people," Owen McPeak said. "Shane Garner, he won a state championship, and he signed on to a college just up there, above the courts."
Members will either need to play outside during the winter or join the Boise Racquet and Swim Club.
"It's obviously my senior year, so I'm hoping to perform really well state, maybe win a state championship for my school, winning singles... So, I was hoping to play here all winter long," Eliott McPeak said.
Kevin Conner the Tennis Director at BRSC said they have a waitlist for both adult and junior memberships. Lampone said he's told if people put their names on the waitlist right now, it's a one to two year wait.
Beck Roghaar, the Tennis Director at Boise State University, said they are available in their adult and junior clinics. People interested can connect with him via email at beckrogharr@boisestate.edu for more information.
The McPeak brothers plan to play outside while they still can, before winter comes. They said that's not the ideal scenario for the off season before trying to get a college scholarship.
"This is the time to improve,' Eliott McPeak said. "This is the time to come here, to play, to grind, to become better, and to not have that opportunity to become better is rough."
"There's rain and snow and ice and all of that." Owen McPeak said. "When a tennis court gets wet, you just have to wait it out otherwise it's super slick."
Current ETC members are hoping Life Time Fitness will consider rescheduling some of their plans so indoor court space is not taken away during a crucial time of year for players.
"If Life Time wanted to, make a peace offering to the community, changing their plans slightly, so that they're not shutting down completely, leaving that open for a few months, so that the juniors do have the opportunity to keep playing, I think that would go a long way in at least building some trust with the community," Lampone said.
Roope said it doesn't sound like Life Time Fitness wants to keep the courts open.
Roope said design plans were approved by Eagle City Council in May. He added both him and Hoge were playing a little bit of a waiting game with Life Time Fitness about if the chain was going through with the project.
"When you've been working on something for six years, you kind of just are not sure... until you are," Roope said. He added that him and Hoge tried to keep the courts through winter.
"We were really trying hard to negotiate that back to more tennis courts open, and we were just unsuccessful in doing that," Roope said.
Finalizations and decisions about the project came a couple weeks ago. Roope said ETC let members know about the close shortly after.
Pickleball, swimming pools and more to come with Life Time Fitness
Roope said plans for a facility like this have been in the works since 2018. When COVID-19 hit, those conversations stopped but picked back up in 2022.
"Lifetime had a lot of capabilities and experience and capital to expand the club into what we'd always try to hope it would become," Roope said about the change.
Once the scheduled sale goes through, Life Time Fitness plans to close the building for renovations, Dan DeBaun, public relations manager for Life Time Corporate told KTVB via email.
ETC has twelve tennis courts inside the building. Half of those will go away.
"A key initial priority will be renovating the indoor tennis and pickleball areas, including crucial updates to the HVAC, lighting and sound systems, to ensure a vastly improved experience," DeBaun said about what will be done first. "Current plans call for six tennis and nine pickleball courts to be available in spring 2025, along with racquet sports programming, coaching and leagues."
In a later phase, more amenities will come, including outdoor pools, exercise areas, and a beach club.
DeBaun could not answer details about hiring ETC employees, or if they'd consider keeping court open during winter construction. He said once the sale goes through, they should be able to share more information.
