Regulators nix pickleball plan in Richmond

RICHMOND, Calif. - Regulators have vetoed plans to convert a Richmond historic site into a private pickleball club. 

Richmond's waterfront Craneway Pavilion, where military tanks were tested during WWII, was poised to become a Mecca for the nation's fastest growing sport.. 

But according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city of Richmond and the State Lands Commission said no to the plan because they say it wouldn't benefit the general public.

PB Development Group said they hope the agencies will change their minds after learning more about the proposal's so-called public-facing aspects.

Across the country, there are efforts to turn all sorts of vacant buildings into pickleball courts.

In Tempe, Ariz., for example, there's a new indoor pickleball facility, called a Pickle Mall, in a vacant space in the Arizona Mills Mall. 

"Hopefully all over the country, you'll see us opening more Pickle malls," Major League Pickleball Founder Steve Kuhn told Fox News.