$4M tennis resort planned for Bay St. Louis will have ‘glam’ lodging, yoga and more
There isn’t anything like it on the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, say three friends committed to building a tennis resort on the waterfront in Bay St. Louis.
Grand Bend Tennis Retreat will combine total tennis immersion, wellness, relaxation and motivation in one stay.
“Our promise is to send guests home with an elevated tennis game and the tools they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” say founders Cindy Hart, Terri Sisk and Karen Sulzer, who bring diverse experience and skills to the project.
Tennis facilities near San Antonio, Texas, and Destin, Florida, are the nearest competition. The women say those places don’t have the combination of private and group lessons, clinics, accommodations and experiences they intend to offer at Grand Bend.
Bay St. Louis bridges the gap between Texas and the Florida Panhandle, they say. The location is close to the interstate and airports. Amtrak passenger trains start running in January from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama, with a stop at the train depot in Bay St. Louis, 2.6 miles from the resort.
The scenic location is what drew them to the Bay.
“It’s a beautiful place. Let’s start with that,” said Cindy Hart, who will handle marketing and promotions for the resort at 1912 North Beach Blvd. at Cedar Point.
The site is just down from Bay Waveland Yacht Club, is close to Hollywood Casino and its 18-hole golf course, boating and downtown shopping and dining.
Amenities at Grand Bend Resort
The coronavirus interrupted their original development schedule for Grand Bend Resort, and now the team is working with lenders to secure financing. They hope to break ground in the fall and open early next year.
The pandemic also altered their plans. When they first designed the resort with its four Plexicushion tennis courts, they didn’t have pickleball in mind. Now that it has become one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S., they’ve added two pickleball courts to the offerings.
Guests will will have the option of staying in one of the “glam” bunk rooms with four beds per room or one of the king suites, which together will provide lodging for 20 people.
The 8,000-square-foot building was designed with West Indies-inspired architecture and wrap-around porches to take advantage of the water and sunset views and match the style of other buildings in Bay St. Louis.
A yoga/meditation studio, fitness and treatment rooms with massage, a swimming pool and a hot tub also are in the plans.
Breakfast will be included in guests’ accommodations. For other meals, “We’d like for them to experience the local restaurants,” Sulzer said, and the vibe of the Bay and neighboring communities.
One-stop-shop for tennis trips
Sisk, who is U.S. Professional Tennis Registry-certified, brings 16 years of experience as a Division 1 head tennis coach to her role as director of tennis at the new Grand Bend. Most recently, she spent 10 years at Tulane University in New Orleans.
As her teams would travel around the country to complete, she said, there was no place to go for a tennis trip that was a one-stop shop. She plans private lessons and clinics, cardio tennis for fitness and customized training for United States Tennis Association league teams.
Sisk said she started playing tennis when she was young, and Grand Bend will be for all ages and levels of play.
“This is geared to anybody who wants to play this amazing sport,” she said, from kids who want to learn tennis to seniors who want light clinics.
Sulzer, the owner of Sulzer Group, an architect and wellness trainer, will be Grand Bend’s certified health and wellness coach.
Anyone trying to improve their game also wants to have the best nutrition, she said. The resort will provide nutrition and cooking classes.
“Really, in tennis, it’s a head game,” she said, so she will introduce mindfulness and meditation, along with massage and other healing arts to soothe the body.
There are lots of tennis courts that players can go to along the Gulf Coast, she said, but none that offer a one-on-one health coach and a tennis pro on site.
Hart will market the Grand Bend across the South and into the North. She started in the hotel and public relations arena before she moved into special promotions, concert production and big event planning.
In 1999, she got her dream job with the New Orleans Saints and stayed there 17 years, gaining sports sales, marketing and management experience.
As she and Sulzer traveled around the country to tennis resorts they began to ask, “Why don’t we have something like this. Why don’t we build it?” Hart said.
Now they are moving forward, she said, and the tennis community and the people in Bay St. Louis are already excited for what is to come.
