A prospective new owner plans to bring indoor and outdoor pickleball courts, a simulated golf driving range and a restaurant to Wilmington’s Holly Tree Racquet Club.

Mike Harms is under contract to purchase the 5.5-acre racquet club property and an adjoining 2-acre wooded tract. The Wilmington Planning Commission is set to consider a rezoning request for the project early next month.

Harms plans to convert the existing private racquet and swim club, 4950 Holly Tree Road, into The Club at Midtown. The new facility is expected to have 12 outdoor pickleball courts, 15 indoor pickleball courts, a simulated golf driving range, an upgraded swimming pool and clubhouse and some tennis courts.

Harms said he’s contemplated bringing the facility to Wilmington for several years. He first considered Leland for the project but settled on the Holly Tree Racquet Club site when he found out a few months ago that it was for sale. Harms said he hopes to tap into pickleball’s recent growth in Wilmington and nationwide.

“It’s the No. 1 growing sport in America,” he said, “tennis just doesn’t have the same kind of excitement and following that pickleball does.”

Harms plans to redevelop the property’s clubhouse, add a restaurant to the building’s second floor and update the facility’s swimming pool.

His plans also include bringing a golf driving range to the adjacent two-acre property. The range will use simulator technology to provide players with stats about their shots. It will also allow them to play against others at the facility and play a range of simulated courses.

The rezoning request, which will go before the Wilmington Planning Commission on Sept. 4, is needed for the two acres slated for the driving range, said Sam Potter, partner with Equitas Law Partners. Potter will represent Harms before the planning commission.

The request asks city leaders to rezone the site from its low-density residential zone to a regional business district. Potter said the proposed pickleball conversion could occur even without the zoning change.

“He’s going to buy the property and convert the existing courts into pickleball,” he said. “We don’t really need any approvals to do that.”

The project has seen pushback from current members of the Holly Tree Racquet Club. They were the “loudest voices in the room” during a community meeting held in June to discuss the project, Potter said.

“They don’t want to see the tennis courts go away, and they don’t think that they should be converted to pickleball courts,” he said.

In April, club members started an online petition asking Wilmington and New Hanover County leaders to purchase the facility. The petition had 417 electronic signatures, as of Monday afternoon.

“We are writing to express our sincere and fervent support of the purchase of Holly Tree Racquet Club by the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County, in hopes that we, as well as the community, will continue to benefit from the courts and family spaces as a public space,” the petition states.

To address the neighbors’ concerns about the facility, Potter said that developers have committed to adding netting, not using flood lights on the driving range, and installing sound absorption materials around the pickleball courts.

Harms said he expects the project to be built in two phases. The first phase, including the outdoor pickleball and tennis courts, the golf range and pool upgrades, is expected to open this spring. The indoor pickleball facility and clubhouse will take another six months to complete, according to Harms.