'Community first, pickleball second': Commercial development coming to Billings

Grant and Jessie Scelzi see a gap for residents on Billings’ far West End, and they’re taking the development plunge to fill it.

After Billings City Council’s final 9-1 approval in late January, the Copper Farms commercial development is set to begin construction this summer on land the Scelzis closed on Wednesday. They plan to fill the almost 10-acre plat adjacent to Rimrock Road and east of 62nd West Street with thoughtfully placed local businesses.

And they're starting with their own. The Paddy Shack — a pickleball club with so much more — is set to be its anchor, as a community-enriching third space for gathering.

“We are really committed to playing a part in bringing the community together,” said Jessie Scelzi. “We love to host people. We love to bring community together and we love to see that direct happiness on people’s faces by an environment that we helped to create.”

As a family with young children, Scelzi said they often find themselves wanting a spot with draw for the whole family.

“Young families don’t have enough places to go to be able to maintain their community,” said Scelzi.

This played a central role in their vision for The Paddy Shack. They envision it acting as a neighborhood hub that blends approachable recreation with a comfortable, upscale but inviting atmosphere, full of options for everyone.

“It’s community first, pickleball second,” she said.

Pickleball is a virally popular racket sport combining elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, using a paddle and a perforated plastic ball. The trending sport has been noted for its playability for various ages and skill levels.

The Scelzis worked hard to thoughtfully plan both the exterior and interior spaces of The Paddy Shack, with various gathering options throughout. Exterior plans include four outdoor pickleball courts, a multi-functional amphitheater and lawn with fire pits to the rear, a kids playground and a courtyard with two built-in spaces for rotating food trucks.

Full electrical hookups will be included, “so food trucks wouldn’t necessarily need to come in with generators, with the loud noises,” said Grant Scelzi.

“It’s meant to be an upscale kind of food truck space,” said Jessie.

The family-forward design continues indoors, with large picture windows for clear sightlines to check on the kids. The thoughtfully designed interior includes spaces for both recreation and relaxation.

Inside, there will be a coffee shop — a satellite Big Sky Coffee Roasters location — a beer-and-wine bar and three ground-level indoor pickleball courts including a centrally located competition-standard feature court with a spectator mezzanine above. A “vibey” end-to-end lounge area will encompass the second floor, with sound deadening elements for boosted comfort.

“We want to make it so people can go work remotely. You can go to have a quiet study space, where you don’t have to worry about just hearing pickleballs all over the place,” said Grant. “We want it to be top notch. We want it to be upscale, but not where you feel like you need to pay money when you walk in the door. We just want it to be a hangout spot.”

Upscale but not unapproachable is the idea, and extraordinarily multifunctional.

The process to make ready their tract of land for commercial development started in October. It first went through a public comment and approval period for annexation into city limits and then was re-zoned and subdivided from agricultural to mixed-use land.

Lucky for the Scelzis, their commercial development tract lines up strategically with the city of Billings’ Rimrock Road improvement project. The couple has three investors backing the project and have said they're looking for more.

Rimrock is a designated arterial road — like Grand Avenue — and the city plans to widen it with infrastructure to accommodate future development.

The city is “on the very front end of the design concepts” for Rimrock Road, with construction anticipated for the 62nd Street to 54th Street West portion first, pending design completion, said Billings City Engineer Mac Fogelsong.

“With the Rimrock Road design, we are working closely with the recent Copper Farms development and other stakeholders so that infrastructure is seamless between the projects,” said Fogelsong. “When both projects are at the design stage, it works well to consider both infrastructure designs so that one project isn’t trying to 'shoehorn' into the other, while following traffic and street design fundamentals.”

City Planning Division Manager Anna Vickers said the Copper Farms commercial development aligns with the city’s growth policy, “which anticipates commercial nodal development in appropriate locations along major corridors.”

“These arterial roadways are designed to accommodate higher traffic volumes, and the development was reviewed with that long-term function in mind,” she said.