Not Just Tennis - the JP Morgan Tennis Court Temporary Quarters for Conventions & Meetings

The JP Morgan Tennis Court Revitalization -

J.P. Morgan - financier, money mogul, multi-millionaire - liked tennis. In 1929, he built the J.P. Morgan Tennis Court, an indoor facility on Jekyll Island, in what is now the Historic District.

There, members of the elite Jekyll Island Club could dress in their whites and play tennis, sheltered from summer cloudbursts and the fickle coastal winter weather.

Once the millionaires jumped ship, the Jekyll Island Club (along with the facilities that supported it, including the JP Morgan Tennis Court) was abandoned, left to deteriorate.

In the mid-1980's, the island was bought by the state of Georgia and the historic buildings refurbished for the public. The Jekyll Island Club clubhouse became the famous Jekyll Island Club Hotel. And the J.P. Morgan Tennis Court became part of the hotel complex.

We used to play there on our Jekyll Island Family Adventures. It was one of our favorite activities. But over the years, the indoor court deteriorated to the point where playing tennis there was impossible.

Though we longed for the days when we would play there as a family, it looked as if one of our favorite venues on the island was destined for demolition.

But then, a miracle of sorts. The Jekyll Island Authority selected the J.P. Morgan Tennis Court as part of their planned Convention Center Campus, an adaptive reuse that will act as the temporary facilities for meetings, weddings, events and catered dinners until the new Convention Center is completed (the new Convention Center on historic Jekyll Island will be a premier Georgia convention centers and business meeting destination).

Actually, the court will be a permanent meeting facility for the Jekyll Island club Hotel (after its tour-of-duty as temporary convention center is over).

Already, construction is nearly complete. Renovations include -

• Both exterior and interior refurbishing
• A new, 45-foot ceiling, complete with sky lights
• New state-of-the-art food service and kitchen facilities
• a picturesque event balcony

That's not all. The campus also includes three semi-permanent structures (icing on the cake). The total combined space of the convention campus is over 42,000 square feet.

The semi-permanent structures will be removed upon completion of the new Convention Center in 2012.

We may not be able to play tennis there anymore, but the legacy of the JP Morgan Tennis Court will be preserved, for the delight of generations to come.

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