Once called an ‘eyesore,’ Cordillo gets 4 new tennis courts on Hilton Head’s south end
The first phase of a tennis court project on Hilton Head Island’s south end is set to be complete next month, and the four brand new Cordillo Tennis Courts will be open for use as one of two publicly accessible tennis facilities on the island.
The courts have often been called an “eyesore” by tennis players and nearby residents because of the cracked asphalt patched with tar and a large stain where someone appears to have dropped a can of paint and walked through it.
But even with the new courts, work isn’t done at Cordillo, according senior planner with the Town of Hilton Head Island Anne Cyran.
Cyran told Town Council members on the community services and public safety committee Monday that the second phase of the replacement project will start later this year, likely in fall.
In that phase, crews will build a restroom building and equipment storage facility next to the courts and improve the surrounding parking lot, Cyran said.
That’s a different plan than the original site renderings, which included a community building, show.
But Cyran said the covenants placed on the land in a 2002 sale from Dennis Van Der Meer, the founder of Van Der Meer Tennis, prohibit any type of community building, instead requiring the land to be used for tennis purposes only.
In early May, the town received a $40,000 grant from the United States Tennis Association to refurbish the tennis courts. Work began shortly thereafter.
That plan was originally estimated to be complete by November 2019, and carried a price tag of between $650,000 and $700,000, according to Scott Liggett, the town’s director of public projects and facilities and chief engineer.
The project has been funded by the recent grant and through Sunday liquor permit sales, according to the town website.
The new courts are striped for adult tennis, children’s tennis and pickleball, Cyran said.
