Dear Wilmington City Council Men and Women
New Hanover County Commissioners
Department of Parks and Recreation:

We are writing to express our sincere and fervent support of the purchase of Holly Tree Racquet Club by the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County, in hopes that we, as well as the community, will continue to benefit from the courts and family spaces as a public space.

Holly Tree Racquet and Swim Club (Est. 1994) has for 3 decades been a place where women, men, teens, and children have come every day of the week to learn, practice, compete in and enjoy with friends and family the sport of tennis.

But, as you probably know, the owners of Holly Tree — Irv Sistrunk and Rusty Lee — are looking to enjoy another chapter of their lives with their families and, therefore, plan to sell the club for the fair market value. We are very happy for them. They work hard every day and deserve to be able to turn their attention to family and other pursuits. 
And we the members are hopeful, because we’ve been apprised for the possibility that New Hanover County is considering purchasing our club. We feel encouraged that we will be able to continue to join friends for tennis matches, practice, lessons, tournaments and fundraisers, happy to be able to continue to enjoy the pool, bring our children and grandchildren to swim, play tennis and take tennis lessons, and happy that others in the community can enjoy it, too!

Holly Tree has about 240 memberships, 40% of which are families or couples, the rest one person memberships. Of course, you can only consider this purchase if it serves a much broader number of residents of New Hanover Co., which it will in becoming a public sports facility, much like what happened with Echo Farms. Also like Echo, Holly Tree has soft courts which are kinder to aging joints, so more tennis players throughout the city would have that option.

Studies have shown tennis can extend life by as much as 10 years —- more than any other sport. Many enjoy it into their 80’s and beyond. It would take en estimated $5 million to rebuild a facility like Holly Tree on underdeveloped land. It is our hope that the City of Wilmington and New Hanover Co. will see the vale in preserving and continuing what is already here and at the same time expand its benefit to even more citizens.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Signed,
Members of Holly Tree Racquet and Swim Club.