Upgraded tennis, basketball and pickleball courts are now open at Greenville’s Cleveland Park.
The city recently completed a $1.66 million renovation to the park’s recreational courts, adding approximately 13,000 square feet of additional court space. The park now features six new tennis courts, two pickleball courts and one basketball court.
City leaders, staff and community members gathered at Cleveland Park to celebrate the reopening of the recreational courts on June 17. Greenville City Mayor Knox White said the city has focused on upgrading and improving parts of Cleveland Park over the past decade, starting with the Rudolf Anderson Memorial and the park’s pedestrian bridge.
“Cleveland Park, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in just a couple years, is really so much the heart and soul of this city,” White said. “I would say the heart of this city runs through Cleveland Park.”
Construction on the project began in the late summer of 2024. The renovations were funded by the city’s $36 million Neighborhood Infrastructure Bond. Other improvements completed at Cleveland Park included:
- Upgrading the court’s LED lighting
- Resurfacing the court’s parking lot
- Adding parallel parking spaces along Lakehurst Street
- Installing a crosswalk to the Greenville Zoo parking lot
- Adding new path connections from the courts to the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail and the Cleveland Park ballfield
Greenville City Councilmember Ken Gibson, who grew up playing on the park’s tennis courts, completed a ceremonial first serve on the upgraded courts at Tuesday’s celebration. He explained that people can learn life lessons through recreational activities and sports, such as diligence, persistence, endurance and the ability to work well with others.
“Through my time on these tennis courts, I learned those same things,” Gibson said. “So when we as City Council develop recreational activities like this, we’re not just seeking to try to find ways for you to have fun and stuff like that. We’re also hoping that you are able to learn those lessons as well and to become better people, more effective citizens, more effective Greenvillians.”
At the reopening celebration, the city also unveiled new branding for Cleveland Park, located at 150 Cleveland Park Drive. Gibson said the park’s new signage featuring a new logo is expected to be finalized by the opening of Brooks’ Playground, the city’s first inclusive playground, in August.
For more information, visit greenvillesc.gov/1581/Cleveland-Park.
