New owner 'stoked' for opportunities at former Racquet Club in Monroeville

The vacant Racquet Club in Monroeville will transform into a new-and-improved indoor sports complex under new ownership.

Real estate developer Craig Cozza confirmed he bought the former Racquet Club building at 1 Racquet Lane in early September. Cozza is the owner of Cozza Enterprises, which owns several commercial properties in the region, including ProBike and Run in Monroeville and Squirrel Hill.

“We’re stoked,” Cozza said. “We’re trying to build the community back up — it’s been crushed from covid and everything. I’m ready to be part of building it back.”

Cozza plans to renovate the 170,000-square-foot building into a newer version of what it was. All said and done, the building will feature sports fields and courts for soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, baseball and more. It also will have a restaurant and bar with all sorts of options — juice, smoothies, coffee, protein shakes and beer.

“This is four acres under a roof,” he said, likening the project to Cool Springs Sports Complex in Bethel Park.

As the owner of ProBike and Run, he is excited for the opportunities to make the property a Cadence Clubhouse, like the one near North Park where riders can meet before and after a ride.

He said the project will be complete within a year under four phases. But he expects the building’s fields and courts to be ready to be used by winter.

Cozza has not determined pricing for using the facility, but he said he is considering a membership model.

The building and property was last owned by PRC Acquisition LLC, according to Allegheny County real estate records. The company, which has a mailing address in Plum, bought the property for $4.2 million in 2005.

PRC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. Court records show PRC listed assets ranging from $1 million to $10 million.

According to court records, the bankruptcy moved over to Chapter 7 in March, which is known as a liquidation bankruptcy. In that type of bankruptcy filing, the court appoints a trustee to sell the assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors.

In this case, Allison Park-based Enterprise Bank filed as the creditor. William Buchanon, the bank’s attorney, did not respond to a request for comment. The case is still open.

The property was listed in the Sept. 9 Allegheny County Sheriff’s Sale, but it was postponed and rescheduled for Oct. 5.

Monroeville Councilman Ron Harvey said during the municipality’s Sept. 8 meeting that Cozza Enterprises had asked Monroeville, Allegheny County and Gateway School District if the company could pay outstanding property taxes over a year instead of all at once.

“Monroeville allowed it, the county allowed it, the municipal authority allowed it and the Gateway School District did not allow it,” he said. Harvey also said he thought the purchase price was around $3 million.

Janet Burkhart, who works for the school district’s delinquent tax collector, Weiss Burkhart Kramer LLC, said Harvey’s comments were “unfounded” and false. In fact, Burkhart said, no one ever contacted the firm asking for a payment plan on delinquent taxes.

“Had they contacted us, we offer a one-year payment plan. That would have been an automatic situation,” she said, adding the developer paid the outstanding taxes in full.

Gateway’ business manager, Paul Schott, also confirmed Cozza Enterprises never asked for a payment plan on back taxes.

Cozza, acknowledging that sort of ask is common among developers, declined to comment on how much he paid to purchase the property.

“All I can say is we settled out a lot of claims. We paid everyone off and assumed some debt,” Cozza said.