Warehouse may hold courts for badminton Firm proposes sports facility for industrial area in South Hayward By Matt O'Brien, STAFF WRITER - Tri-Valley Herald. HAYWARD — Badminton birdies could soon be whooshing through a warehouse near you. In the same month the landmark Holiday Bowl prepares to permanently close its South Hayward alley, a group of South Bay entrepreneurs are planning to make the neighborhood a destination for a different kind of Bay Area recreational craze. The company that brought the popular 11-court Bintang Badminton Academy to the city of Sunnyvale is now looking at opening up a 20-court badminton center inside a 40,800-square-foot, high-ceiled industrial building in South Hayward, according to information filed at City Hall. Carl Emura, an associate city planner who admits he hasn't served a birdie in years, said a racquet court architect will meet with Hayward's building code and fire department officials this month to discuss the proposal. The recreational center would be located at 13780 Hayman St., in an industrial area near the Union City border between Whipple Road and Zephyr Avenue, and would beopen during the evening and lunch hours and on weekends. And instead of a bowling alley bar, the site would have showers and changing rooms for aficionados who come to the facility to play what can be a rigorous sport. Emura said the Hayman Street site doesn't appear to be the most appealing spot for a recreational center. "It's largely industrial buildings," Emura said. "It has warehouses and docks within the same complex." But he said court developers apparently have to find a building with enough height to accommodate badminton playing. Stella Chun, a representative for the Gahrahmat Family Limited Partnership, the company applying to build the badminton facility, said she was not ready to release information about the company's plans until the court gets the city's final approval.
I really hope someone would like to take the risk to invest some of the facilities on the east coast. Of course, the higher cost and tax might scare most investors away. :crying:
lacking funding I spoke with Phu this past weekend regarding his proposed new facility. He said that the investors had pulled out, so most likely the project will not go through. So don't get your hopes up too high.
It's indeed a risky investment, never to metion there are already 4 big facilities in bay area. Team up with all the local school / community center gyms, many investors might want to see if there are still any "slices of a big pie" left... Welcome to the east, though.
Forget the East Coast. It's too far away. How 'bout just a little further east as in a neighbouring state.
Big Market in W. San Jose/Saratoga/S. Sunnyvale Area Instead of opening another new badminton gym in the already well-served East Bay corridor from Fremont to Milpitas/Sunnyvale (3 gyms!), how about having one in the W. San Jose/Saratoga/S. Sunnyvale area where lots of badminton aficionados reside/work? At the end of the day, people just don't want to drive too far to a badminton gym, no matter how good it is. Close vicinity is still a MAJOR key.
hope to have a gym in Boston area too I really hope that there is a 24/7 badminton gym in Boston area too.
Hey! I Live in Hayward! And i would love it if they opened a Badminton Club here! Much easiyer for High schools in the area to play ! Cuz most of us dont got cars its not a long drive for our parents to take us there compared to UBC thats like 15-20 mins away and you know Asian Parents are Stingy and wont want to waste 40 mins to drive you there and back to play some badminton... They Rather drive 40 mins To Oakland or San Jose for some Good Cooking Produce But not Badminton lol...
nicest place for badminton in bay area What is the best gym for badminton in the Bay Area, now so many new gyms have opened recently? Perhaps people like Kwun who surely tried them all can share his opinion here.
I believe there's 1 close to BOS area. I don't know the exact direction, but heard it's operated under Eddy Chong?
Not quite true for our east coast folks... Even just a regular HS with a crowd of 50+, we still willing to go.
Working on it... We're working hard at it. Details are still being ironed out though (with landlord, planner, funders, etc.). Hang in there!
A list of Boston area badminton gyms is maintained by Mike Wolfberg: http://www.wolfberg.net/badminton/bostonarea/ Quite a few 24/7 gyms, but nothing along the lines of the San Fran scene or the SGVBC.