Kopa Parie sur un Type Différent de Club de Padel À Pointe-Saint-Charles

Padel clubs in and around Montreal have operated on a essential model of courts and a reception desk, point final, and an underlying assumption that players would find someplace else to socialize after a game. This model works—the existing clubs are busy, after all—but it leaves a gap that those who've played the sport in Europe or the Middle East would recognize immediately. This is because clubs abroad function as destination more than venue.

Kopa, which opened in Pointe-Saint-Charles in May, is a 20,000-square-foot space built around this gap. One wouldn’t think it’s just for the love of the game, as it houses two Pilates studios, a fully licensed bar, a La Marzocco machine, and daily pastry deliveries from the PSC outpost of Louise in addition to its four padel courts and a pickleball court.

"When I used to go play padel at other places, the first thing after a game was, okay, where do we go eat now?" says co-founder Giacomo Makhlouf. "The idea was to keep people at the club longer."

Now players find a bar running on three custom-branded taps and a cocktail menu built around the sport with names like the ‘Court Side Spritz’ and ‘Soft Lob’. On the food side, the plates are small and shareable, oriented toward protein and freshness rather than sports bar standards: burratina bruschetta, salmon tartare, shrimp fritters, a charcuterie board. This isn’t the average padel courtside.

Makhlouf developed the concept with his father Kais, and the framing they kept returning to was the third space that’s distinct yet carries the ritual and comfort of both home and work. It's far from a new idea these days, but sport is increasingly where that space gets built. People are notably more health-conscious now and more deliberate about how they spend their time, and they're spending accordingly on experiences that are active and social at once rather than purely passive ones.

Kopa is designed to hold all of that under one roof.

Ah, those courtside views

Part of the appeal of padel specifically is how quickly it gets people in the door. It shares dimensions with tennis but the learning curve is considerably shorter. Makhlouf reaches for chess as an analogy: "You can explain the rules very easily. Someone can play within 30 minutes. But mastering it is a whole different thing." Padel has enough tactical ceiling to keep serious players invested, and the walls are where it gets interesting.

Ivy Studio, the Montreal design firm behind the project, took on a 30,000-square-foot building adjacent to the Nordelec complex and worked with what the industrial bones gave them: exposed concrete, visible steel structure, a ceiling that only clears the required height in part of the space.