If you've spent any time researching Grande Dunes, you've probably come across the Tennis Club in a listing description or an amenity list somewhere, ten lit Har-Tru clay courts tucked along the Intracoastal Waterway, part of the amenity package that makes Grande Dunes feel like a resort rather than just a subdivision. That's changing. In July, the Myrtle Beach Planning Commission cleared the way for the Tennis Club's property to be subdivided into 31 single-family home lots, and residents have been pushing back ever since. I've had a few clients ask me about this directly, since it touches both of the Grande Dunes posts I've written recently, so I wanted to lay out what's actually happened, what hasn't, and what it means if you're buying or already own in Grande Dunes.
What Actually Got Approved
The Myrtle Beach Planning Commission approved a plan to subdivide the roughly 8-acre Grande Dunes Tennis Club property into 31 single-family lots served by four new streets, which means the ten-court clay facility comes down to make room for the new homes. Here's the detail that surprised a lot of residents, and honestly surprised me too when I first read it: the city says this doesn't require a rezoning or a City Council vote at all. The property's current zoning already allows either a tennis facility or a single-family subdivision, so from the city's perspective, the planning commission's job was simply to check the subdivision application against state law and city ordinance, not to weigh in on whether losing the Tennis Club is a good idea. The city has also been explicit that this isn't a Grande Dunes Planned Unit Development amendment, which is the specific designation that would have forced it through a more public City Council process.
Why Residents Are Pushing Back
The opposition here hasn't been quiet. Community members showed up at a City Council meeting to argue the process moved too fast and with too little notice, and a group of residents sent the city a formal letter asking officials to decline the application outright. Charles Collins, HOA president of Castillo Del Mar, argued the matter should have gone before Council rather than being resolved at the planning commission level, on the theory that removing a long-standing amenity changes the overall concept of Grande Dunes enough to warrant that higher level of review. Other residents made a more personal case: Terry Springs pointed to the club's history as a reason it's worth saving, and the broader sentiment at that meeting was that residents stand to lose more than courts, they lose a place where friendships form and kids learn to play. By at least one community estimate, more than 500 Myrtle Beach-area residents use the club regularly. The city's response has been consistent throughout: officials say their authority here is genuinely limited, that code doesn't require public input as part of a subdivision review, and that the planning commission can only vote according to what's allowed under city ordinance, not public sentiment.
A Detail Worth Understanding: Who Actually Owns the Club
This is the part I think gets lost in the headlines, and it's worth understanding if you own in Grande Dunes or you're considering it. The Tennis Club sits on privately owned property, and the decision to subdivide it is the property owner's to make, not the Grande Dunes master HOA's and not the city's. That's a meaningfully different situation than an HOA-owned clubhouse or pool getting redeveloped, where residents would at least have some say through their association. It's a useful reminder that not every amenity referenced in a master-planned community's marketing is owned or controlled by the HOA you're paying dues to. Some amenities genuinely are HOA assets. Others, like this one, are privately owned facilities that happen to sit inside the community and grant access as part of the overall package, which means they can change hands or change use independent of what residents or even the HOA would prefer.
Where This Actually Stands Right Now
As of this writing, no demolition date has been announced and the property owner still has to work through the standard permitting process before construction on the 31 homes can begin. The club itself has declined to comment publicly on its future. So if you're looking at a Grande Dunes listing today, the Tennis Club hasn't closed yet, but the approval that clears the way for it to close is already in place, and the standard caution here is not to assume the timeline stays slow just because permitting takes a while.
The City Is Already Talking About a Replacement, Just Not at Grande Dunes
Here's a detail that hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as the closure itself: the public backlash pushed Myrtle Beach City Council into early discussions about building a brand-new public racket sports complex elsewhere in the city. Councilwoman Debbie Conner, citing USTA guidance, said a proper complex would need about 6.5 acres for 14 tennis courts, four pickleball courts, and a 6,500-square-foot clubhouse. Councilman Mike Lowder pointed out the city already owns more than 20 acres just north of the John T. Rhodes Myrtle Beach Sports Center in central Myrtle Beach that could potentially host it. USTA South Carolina's board president, Mary Margaret Hyatt, didn't mince words about the broader need, calling the current situation a "court crisis," and the Grand Strand Tennis Foundation's board president, Dayle Oakley, described it as a real crossroads for the sport locally. I want to be clear about what this is and isn't: it's an early-stage idea with cost estimates still being developed, no funding source confirmed, and no timeline attached, competing for attention against other big-ticket city priorities like a roughly $105 million police headquarters replacement. It's not a direct replacement for what Grande Dunes residents are losing, since it would sit elsewhere in the city rather than inside the community itself. But if you're a buyer who cares specifically about pickleball access across the Grand Strand generally, it's a thread worth watching rather than dismissing outright.
What This Means If You're Looking at Del Webb or a Grande Dunes Condo
I've written separately about Del Webb at Grande Dunes and about Grande Dunes condos for sale, and both of those posts describe Tennis Club access as part of the broader Grande Dunes amenity package every owner gets, regardless of which section or building they're in. That's still accurate today, but it's exactly the kind of detail that can go stale between when a post gets written and when you're actually touring homes, and this is a good real-world example of why I tell buyers not to treat any amenity list as permanent. If tennis access specifically is a reason you're drawn to Grande Dunes, Del Webb at Grande Dunes, or a condo building like Villa Marbella or Villa Firenze, it's worth asking directly, right now, what the current status of the club is and what the HOA's position is on amenity access going forward, rather than relying on a listing description or an older blog post, mine included.
To be fair to the broader picture, losing the Tennis Club doesn't unravel what makes Grande Dunes work as a community. The Ocean Club, the two golf courses, and the marina along the Intracoastal Waterway aren't affected by this at all, and those are the amenities that drive most of the buyer interest I see in the first place. This is a real loss for the residents who used the courts regularly, and I don't want to undersell that, but it's a narrower change than "Grande Dunes is losing its amenities" would suggest.
Does This Affect Home Values in Grande Dunes?
It's genuinely too early to say with any real confidence, and I'd be skeptical of anyone claiming otherwise this soon after the approval. What I can say is that 31 new single-family homes replacing an underused amenity facility isn't inherently a negative for the broader community's values, new construction inside an established, amenity-rich area like Grande Dunes tends to sell well on its own merits. The more relevant question for your own search is narrower: does the specific section or building you're considering actually rely on the Tennis Club as a selling point, and if so, has that affected buyer interest or days on market for comparable units recently? That's a question your agent should be able to help you answer with real, current data rather than speculation, and it's worth asking before you anchor your decision to an amenity that's mid-transition.
What to Ask Before You Write an Offer in Grande Dunes Right Now
Given everything above, a few questions are worth adding to your due diligence if you're actively looking at Grande Dunes, Del Webb at Grande Dunes, or any of the condo buildings inside the community. Ask directly whether the Tennis Club is still operating and what the expected timeline looks like, rather than assuming either "it's already gone" or "it'll be years." Ask whether the HOA has said anything officially about replacing or supplementing racket sports access elsewhere inside the community now that this facility is leaving. And if pickleball or tennis access is a genuine priority rather than a nice-to-have, ask about other courts within reasonable driving distance along the Grand Strand so you're not left without options during whatever gap exists between the club closing and any new public complex, if one is ever actually built.
A closer look at Grande Dunes as a whole is a good next step if you want the full picture of what the community offers beyond this one facility, and browsing what's currently available across Myrtle Beach is a good way to see how Grande Dunes compares to other amenity-rich communities on the market right now. If you're actively weighing a purchase in Grande Dunes and want to talk through what this change actually means for the specific section or building you're considering, reach out here and I'm happy to walk through the current, up-to-date status with you.
