Stephanie McCaffrey, a former American soccer international, founder of a pickleball hospitality group and daughter of Eastdil Secured's James McCaffrey, has completed a long-term lease for the largest padel and pickleball facility in Europe.
Racketeer, the UK part of her Pickle Pop USA group, has taken 95,000 square feet at Dooa House in Park Royal for a facility for the two growing racquet sports.
Padel tennis, which blends tennis and squash, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with a major supply and demand imbalance in the UK at present. According to the Lawn Tennis Association, there are around 800 padel courts in Britain, but more than 400,000 players. Pickleball is a sport that blends elements from badminton, tennis and table tennis.
Dooa Capital, which is part of the Dooa Beauty hair and beauty business for multicultural and ethnic markets, has leased one of its two sites in Park Royal. The site is at 55-61 North Acton Road.
Jass Dooa, director, Dooa Capital, said in a LinkedIn post: “We are delighted to have completed this transformative deal, thanks to the tireless work of our exceptional team. We warmly welcome our tenants Racketeer and Stephanie McCaffrey to Park Royal and wish them every success as they grow their UK presence.”
Adam Soning, investment associate at Belcor, advised McCaffrey's team at Racketeer on securing its first lease outside the US. The work included securing a change of use, along with obtaining an alcohol license for the site which will include food and beverage outlets and subsidiary facilities.
Pickle Pop USA has already opened two sites in Los Angeles. It has opened a site in London to meet what Belcor said is "massive demand for padel, and growing demand for pickleball in the UK and Europe".
Stephanie McCaffrey is the daughter of James McCaffrey, a senior partner and head of Europe for Eastdil Secured, which is also Leyton Orient football club's front-of-shirt sponsor.
McCaffrey Football Group, a recently formed women’s sports investment firm, was founded by James, a former basketball player for the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns.
Announcing its investment into Leyton Orient last year, the company said Stephanie would be playing for the Leyton Orient Women’s team in the upcoming 2024-5 season after moving to London at the beginning of the year to expand her hospitality business.
On LinkedIn under a post on the Racketeer letting James said: "Get in!"
Belcor worked in partnership with Forest Real Estate.