When George Thomas, former Bermuda Press (holdings) Ltd board member, first suggested turning the Royal Gazette building into pickleball courts, Jonathan Howes thought he was joking.
“I honestly thought he was pulling my leg,” said the group CEO and director.
The more they looked into it, however, the more it made business sense.
In the space of just 14 weeks, this Par-la-Ville Road landmark, which is now called Press Court, was transformed into a state-of-the-art sports centre, housing up to four Pickleball courts, and new, fully accessible bathrooms with the potential for a viewing platform, café and outside patio seating.
In the meantime, the printing operations continued in the basement and the entire Gazette staff moved next door into Crown House without missing a single issue of Bermuda’s daily paper.
The newspaper’s new offices have also been upgraded. The new space is bright and modern, with a comfortable and stylish kitchen, which doubles up as a functional work and meeting area, and updated technology allowing everyone to hot desk.
This design, he said, “was intended to increase the collaboration, increase the communication and increase the productivity amongst staff, so that we’re more one team rather than working in departmental siloes.”
In spite of the benefits of their new office, leaving their old building, which had been purpose built for the newspaper back in 1974, was still a wrench.
“One of our editorial staff members was really emotional,” recalled Mr Howes.
“He was tearing up because he spent his entire working career inside this space. It’s a huge change, even for Bermuda. For The Royal Gazette, that building has been its home for so long, most Bermudians don’t remember where it was before.”
Their previous offices had been in what is now Gibbons, on Reid Street.
The response to the new indoor pickleball facility however, has been one of excitement, and while there is a membership scheme and associated benefits, players don’t have to be members to use it.
The building can also be rented out for corporate and charitable events as well as used by the island’s schools.
Renovation and demolition work has primarily been designed and carried out by local companies and contractors, but Mr Howes also called on international expertise, as nothing like this has been built in Bermuda before.
US-based companies LSI Lighting and PickleRoll were called in for the lighting and flooring respectively. Pickleball is noisy, so sound-proofing was put in place with an acoustic spray on the ceiling and an acoustical felt for the walls.
The court outline is designed to be as flexible as possible. While the maximum number of courts available is four, the layout and number can change according to the occasion thanks to tape and an aluminium template.
“You could literally pull up the tape, put the template down and maybe within an hour, you could have the whole place reconfigured,” explained Mr Howes.
Press Court is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an app-based booking system. This system also facilitates building entry for out of hours games.
Transforming a former newspaper building from the 70s into an indoor pickleball operation has been the company’s most ambitious business project to date and Mr Howes reserved high praise for everyone who worked night and day to make it happen, in particular contractor, Longtail Construction, H&H Plumbing, Keen Electrical, Pembroke Paint and Island Construction Services for the asbestos removal.
