"Only in Manhattan, where indoor tennis courts are rarer than personal garages, would anyone sign up a year in advance for an hour of tennis. And only on this space-strapped island would they pay as much as $210 an hour for the privilege.
Tennis players with thick wallets and ample foresight have already begun reserving hours at the new tennis facility that's being built in Grand Central Terminal in a space that used to house a CBS recording studio where "What's My Line?" and Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now" were filmed.
The price—depending on the time of day, between $100 and $210 an hour—will likely be the highest in the city for an indoor court, according to Anthony Scolnick who is leasing it from Metro-North Railroad. He predicts hedge fund executives, real estate professionals and others will be willing to pay that price when the Vanderbilt Tennis Club opens in September.
***
Indoor tennis in space-crunched Manhattan has never been for the middle class.
Aside from a seasonal tennis bubble a Parks Department concessionaire erects under the Queensboro Bridge, there are no public indoor courts on the island and the private ones are pricey. The Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, for example charges $110 to $165 per hour for the court there. The same amount of time costs $115 an hour for non-members at the Manhattan Plaza Racquet Club.
***
The bidding was won by Mr. Scolnick, the owner of Yorkville Tennis Club and Sutton East Tennis, both on the Upper East Side. He is a former athletic director at Hunter College. He will pay a starting rent of $225,000 a year to Metro-North.
QUESTIONS:
1.
