Tulane pulls out of tennis facility deal with Audubon’s | Financial news

Nearly two years after the Audubon Nature Institute and Tulane University began exploring a partnership to renovate Audubon’s tennis courts, which would have given the Green Wave a new facility for its tennis teams, the school has dropped the deal.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Tulane said: After exploring locations across the city as potential practice and competition sites for our men’s and women’s tennis programs, we have decided to build this facility on university-owned property.

Tulane officials declined to elaborate on its decision or where on campus it might build a new tennis facility.

Rising costs

Audubon had touted the potential deal as a win-win situation that would have brought in a private partner to finance the renovation of the aging public building. The plan could have avoided imposing the cost of renovations on taxpayers or court users, who currently pay $14 an hour.

Some longtime users of the courts opposed the proposal and actively worked to kill the deal.

In a prepared statement, Audubon Nature Institute vice president and chief operating officer Kyle Burks called the two-year discussion process with Tulane productive and enlightening and suggested the university had decided against the deal for cost reasons.

As construction costs rose to meet those goals, Tulane decided to look for other options for its tennis program, Burks said. We thank Tulane for their leadership and creativity in considering a partnership with us and wish them and their tennis players the best.

Under the proposed partnership, first revealed to the public in spring 2021, Tulane would have funded a multimillion-dollar renovation of Audubons’ facility by replacing 10 aging clay fields with 12 new ones, six with clay and six with cement.

According to NCAA rules, college tournaments must be played on hard courts.

The renovation, which would have closed the facility for a year during construction, would also have updated the locker rooms and installed new lights.

Audubon would have retained ownership and operations at the facility, one of only two public clay courts in Uptown.

Relief from opponents

Opponents of the proposed partnership said they were relieved the deal was over.

“The partnership concept was good, but the venue was far too small and could not meet the needs of Tulane’s varsity tennis teams, nor could it meet the needs of the community’s public space,” said neighborhood activist and avid tennis player Sandy Rosenthal.

While regular users of Audubon’s tennis courts may be breathing a sigh of relief for now, Audubon is still looking for a partner to help pay for upgrades to its aging facility, a need first identified in the 2018 Audubon Park Master Plan.

Burks said Audubon will continue to pursue opportunities to improve its facilities, expand its public tennis programs and connect with the New Orleans Recreation Department Commission and other nonprofit programs focused on community tennis.

This work is critical to our community and we remain unwavering in our commitment, he said.

For now, Tulane will continue to play at City Park, where its tennis teams have practiced and competed since the university tore up its own courts more than a decade ago for Yulman Stadium.