Lease vs Buy vs Build

Industrial rent in the US is usually quoted triple net (NNN): a price per square foot per year for the space, with property taxes, building insurance and common-area maintenance passed through on top. Ask the landlord for last year's NNN charges, because they can add a lot.

So: about $10.30–$10.60 per sq ft per year on average in the first half of 2026. The local spread is far wider. In Cushman & Wakefield's Q2 2026 report, markets ran from about $4.30 (Memphis) to about $27.50 (New York outer boroughs); Chicago was about $7.55, Dallas–Fort Worth $9.19 and Los Angeles $15.83 (preliminary figures).

These are warehouse averages. Flex space and former big-box retail price differently, and we didn't find a national average for either. Get local comparables from a broker.

Rent is a fixed cost spread over the hours your courts are open. Turning it into a cost per available court-hour makes buildings comparable:

rent per court-hour = monthly rent ÷ number of courts ÷ open hours per month

Worked example: a 20,000 sq ft building, 6 courts (as in the courts-fit guide), open 15 hours a day for 30 days = 450 hours per court, 2,700 court-hours a month.

Two things follow. First, at the national average the rent per court-hour is small next to the published court rental prices of about $24–$44 an hour (see how these businesses make money), but in an expensive market it isn't. Second, losing a court to columns raises the figure by a fifth (6 → 5 courts), which is why JLL observed that rent "tends to be a function of how many courts a site can fit" (May 2026).

In the US, the usual route for owner-occupied commercial property is an SBA 504 loan. As lender guides describe it in 2026:

• Typical split: 50% from a bank, 40% from an SBA-backed Certified Development Company, 10% from you.
• You must occupy at least 51% of an existing building (60% for new construction).
• Some lenders want 15% down for "single-purpose" properties or businesses under two years old.

A court facility may be treated as a single-purpose property, but we couldn't confirm that; ask your lender early. These terms come from lender and finance guides (NerdWallet, Fit Small Business, Michigan CDC and others, 2026), not from sba.gov itself, so confirm the current rules with the SBA and your lender.

Buying ends rent and gives you control of the building, but ties up the down payment that would otherwise fund the fit-out and the first months' running costs.

Building new makes sense mainly where no existing building has the height and the column-free span you need, or where land is cheap relative to rent. You choose the clear height and the grid, so the courts can be laid out first and the structure designed around them, with no column ever in play.

The trade-off is time and capital. Land, design, permits and construction all come before the first booking. We didn't find reliable per-square-foot costs for new court buildings, so we don't quote one; the examples below show what a few owners reported.

The Yulee comparison is the honest shape of the decision: building cost far more up front than five years of rent, in exchange for owning the asset. Whether that suits you depends on your capital, your lender and how long you plan to run the club, which is a question for an accountant, not a floor plan.

What a floor plan does settle is the court count each option gives you. Put the same courts into each candidate building, compare rent per court-hour, then run the break-even calculator for each.

Not financial advice. This page explains a planning method and quotes published, dated ranges. It isn't financial, legal or investment advice, and nothing here predicts that a facility will make money or how long it would take. Talk to an accountant, a lawyer and your lender before you commit.