Union Padel Club opens in Near West Side with five courts

After moving from Mexico to Chicago in 2020 for business school, Fabian Gosselin realized he had no place to play padel, a racket sport that originated in Mexico in the 1960s.

Six years later, Gosselin and co-founder Peter Goldman have opened Union Padel Club, a 30,000-square-foot club with five padel courts and amenities like a bar, restaurant and coworking and lounge spaces.

Padel, a combination of tennis, squash and pickleball, is a fast-paced and competitive game that's considered one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

“I really wanted somewhere to play,” Gosselin, 33, said. “We just thought that Chicago would be next, and it would be a nice place to open a padel club, just given its international community for sports.”

Located on the Near West Side, the club opened to the public on Thursday and aims to be a community-based social hub for the globally popular sport.

“It takes the best pieces from pickleball’s social, the best pieces from tennis … and the best pieces from squash, where you’re able to get it off the wall and it feels like the ball’s never dead,” Gosselin said.

To open the space, the founders raised an initial $1.5 million in funding then an additional $1 million from friends and family, many based in Chicago.

Gosselin said they searched for years before finding the warehouse, at 207 N. Paulina St., in 2024. The search was challenging because they required an indoor spot with high ceilings and a spacious amenity area, he said.

Those challenges may be why Chicago has lagged behind other cities in opening padel clubs, a similar setback faced by some pickleball court operators as they struggle to find the right indoor space.

Cube Padel opened in 2025 as the first in the city of Chicago, in southwest neighborhood New City.

Iker March, 28, who has been to Cube Padel, said he likes Union Padel Club because it offers more courts and amenities. Plus, it's a more central location.

March, originally from Mexico, has played the sport since he was 7 years old and plans to become a member of Union Padel Club.

“I think it’s a very, very good thing to have a new padel club in Chicago,” March said. “I think it’s the start of a very important beginning in the [U.S].”

The building, a former photo studio, enabled the founders to also offer cold plunges and saunas.

“We had more space than we really wanted,” Goldman, who is also a founding member of Lakeshore Sport & Fitness, said. “So we said, 'How do we fill this to build the community that we're looking to build?'”

The pandemic created a need for spaces built around community, leading to businesses like Union Padel Club to offer social amenities.

“People are craving getting out and seeing people more now because of the change in the work environment,” Goldman said. “We’re trying to meet the need of people finding social avenues outside of the work environment."

Membership packages start at $110 per month and includes access to limited-capacity leagues, tournaments and open play; discounts on court bookings and private events; priority booking; guest passes and access to the Members' Lounge.

Non-members are also welcome to play for $35 per hour. The club also offers packages from $470 for 10 sessions to $1,100 for 30 sessions.

“The multiculturalism of this sport is fantastic,” Goldman said. “The number of languages that are being spoken here … bringing people together from all these different areas and different parts of the city … building that community of just interesting, fun people — that’s what I’m really excited to do.”

Gosselin, a Mexico native who has played the sport for 17 years, originally anticipated the club to be largely populated by people aged 25 to 40. But since the sport is “relatively easy on the body,” he has seen a lot of interest from older players.

He's excited to see the sport, played in doubles, take off in the U.S.

“You started seeing a lot of celebrities really play the sport. … It’s already very popular everywhere else,” Gosselin said. “The [U.S.] is kind of like the last place where it needs to grow.”

Union Padel Club is open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.