The 14-acre parcel at the corner of Jackrabbit Lane and Huffine Lane sold Tuesday for $3.8 million to Gallatin Valley Recreation Partners LLC. The property was last assessed as agricultural land producing alfalfa hay. The new owners plan to break ground in September on a 24-court pickleball facility with a 4,200-square-foot clubhouse and a juice bar.

The development will be called The Dink Yard and will include six indoor courts for winter play. Memberships start at $185 per month with a $500 initiation fee. Day passes will be available for $25. The clubhouse will feature reclaimed barn wood from a structure that stood on the property until 2019.

“We’re preserving the agricultural heritage of the site while meeting the community’s growing recreational needs,” said Dale Huckleberry, managing partner of Gallatin Valley Recreation Partners. Huckleberry moved to Bozeman from San Diego in 2021 and previously worked in commercial real estate brokerage. He said the project has already received 320 pre-sale membership commitments.

Neighbors at the adjacent subdivisions — both built on former hay fields between 2018 and 2023 — attended the planning meeting in June. Several expressed concern about traffic on Jackrabbit Lane. Others asked whether the facility would offer discounted rates for seniors. The planning board approved the conditional use permit unanimously.

The sale price works out to roughly $271,000 per acre. A 2023 listing for the same parcel described it as “prime multifamily development opportunity” at $4.2 million. That deal fell through when the buyer could not make the density pencil out at current construction costs. The city’s updated housing needs assessment, released in March, identifies a shortage of 2,400 units affordable to households earning 80% of area median income.

The alfalfa was cut one last time in July. The bales sit stacked along the fence line waiting for pickup.