Indoor pickle ball court could open soon

The construction at the new entertainment facility coming to Las Cruces is still ongoing but parts of the facility could be opening as soon as the end of the year.

Elite Family Entertainment Center is taking up the vacant building that used to house a Kmart store located on Bataan Memorial West. The 92,000-square-foot building will house 24 lanes of bowling and six additional lanes for children, 12 pickleball courts, laser tag, virtual reality simulators, a Burger Time restaurant, and other forms of entertainment. 

Kevin McGrath, one of the developers for the entertainment facility, said that he thinks that the indoor pickleball section of the facility could be done in as little as 90 days.

“We have all of the material here. We have all of the court material here, we have all of the netting, we have all of the net posts, we are just waiting on the roof to get done,” McGrath said.

As for the bowling side of the facility, McGrath said that he is excited to bring bowling back into the community and he has been told that people are interested in hosting tournaments at the location when it opens.

“We plan on having three to four a year,” McGrath said. “People are already interested in coming to Las Cruces and so many people right now are going to other places like T or C or Deming to bowl. Now you will have this facility here for you.”

He continued by saying that the rest of the facility should be done in “March or April” of next year. 

McGrath said that he knows about all of the excitement from the community on the opening of the facility. He said that even the local city government has expressed their excitement as it can offer a new place for local youth to go and spend time.

“We have sat down with the police chief, we have sat down with the city manager, sat down with Eric the mayor and they are behind this,” McGrath said. “This is something they would like to do but they don't have the financing to justify it.”

He also said that there are not many places in town for the whole family to be able to come together and hang out. He pointed to many of the bars in town and children's entertainment facilities as proof that there is a need for this kind of facility in the city.

“They are all great entertainment, but where does the family come together as a group? We just feel like with the variety we are giving. now older people can come here, younger kids and you are catering to everyone,” McGrath said. 

The Burger Time restaurant will be housed next door where a former 99 cent store used to be.