South Florida has plenty of outdoor tennis courts, but heat and afternoon storms make year-round play hard. Florida Indoor Tennis Club in Pompano Beach is designed to solve that problem. Permit Express LLC permitted the project from the ground up. It was a difficult job: the land was unplatted, and the project needed approvals from state, regional, county and city agencies and boards.
About the project
Florida Indoor Tennis Club describes itself as Broward County’s first indoor tennis club. The club is located at 3200 West Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach and offers climate-controlled indoor courts with a cushioned Laykold surface, the same surface brand used at the U.S. Open and the Miami Open. Programs include junior lessons, adult clinics, private lessons, match play and social leagues.
The club was founded by tennis professional Neal Feinberg. In July 2025, the City of Pompano Beach Planning and Zoning Board approved the site plan for the private facility, which called for three indoor courts, a clubhouse and lockers, just south of Atlantic Boulevard near Northwest 31st Avenue.
With permits in hand, construction is now underway. The club is not open yet.
Unplatted land and seven approval bodies
Permitting this project meant coordinating with the Florida Department of Transportation, the South Florida Water Management District, Broward County’s surface water program, three City of Pompano Beach review bodies and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Here is what each one generally does.
Platting. A plat is the official, recorded map that divides land into legal lots and sets out roads, easements and dedications. In Broward County, platting is also used to check a project’s impact on roads, water and sewer, parks, schools and the environment. When a plat is required, the application goes to the city and to Broward County at the same time, and the County Commission approves it after the city does. Except in unusual cases, building permits within a plat generally can’t be issued until the plat is recorded. That makes an unplatted parcel one of the longer paths to a building permit.
- FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation): Atlantic Boulevard (State Road 814) and NW 31st Avenue (State Road 849) are both state roads in this part of Pompano Beach. FDOT typically reviews new driveway connections and any drainage that ties into the state road system.
- SFWMD (South Florida Water Management District): typically reviews how a site will manage stormwater, flooding and any wetland impacts, usually through an Environmental Resource Permit.
- Broward County Surface Water Management (Environmental Permitting Division): licenses the construction of stormwater systems for new development. Reviews typically cover paving, grading and drainage plans, water table data and stormwater calculations.
- Pompano Beach Development Review Committee (DRC): a staff committee from city departments that reviews site plans for code compliance, often over several rounds of comments.
- Pompano Beach Architectural Appearance Committee (AAC): reviews building design and site layout for new construction above certain sizes and for properties on major roads.
- Pompano Beach Planning and Zoning Board (PZB): an appointed board that holds public hearings and approves major site plans.
- FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission): the state wildlife agency, which typically gets involved when a site may affect protected wildlife, such as species that can live on vacant land in South Florida.
Each agency has its own submittals, comments and timing, and a change requested by one can affect what another has already approved. On this project, the combination of unplatted land and this many reviewers made permitting difficult. Keeping every approval moving in the right order was the core of our work.
[Optional: add one specific hurdle on this job and how we resolved it]
Building permits for a new sports facility
Once site approvals are in place, a ground-up building goes to the City of Pompano Beach Building Inspections Division. Typical reviews include:
- Building (structural): engineered drawings for a large clear-span structure, meeting Broward County’s High-Velocity Hurricane Zone requirements.
- Mechanical: HVAC and energy calculations to climate-control a large open space.
- Electrical, plumbing and fire: court lighting and power, locker rooms and restrooms, and fire alarm, sprinkler and life-safety review.
Why a commercial permit expediter in Broward helps
Since 2004, Permit Express LLC has worked with contractors, engineers, designers and owners across Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade to keep applications complete, respond to comments quickly and track every review. On multi-agency projects, that coordination is often what keeps a schedule intact.
Planning a commercial project in Pompano Beach?
Whether it is a recreation facility, a restaurant or a new building on raw land, we can help you map out the approvals your project needs. Browse our common permitting questions, then call Permit Express LLC at 954-632-0353 or contact us online. Our office is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.