Two new places to swim and play pickleball are opening in Lakewood Ranch about ten weeks apart, and they charge very different prices for the same activities. Life Time's athletic country club on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard opened on Oct. 12, with adult memberships starting at $339 a month. Manatee County's Athletics & Aquatics Center at Premier Sports Campus North is aiming to open at the end of December. Individual county residents will swim there for free, and pickleball will cost $5 for two hours.
Comparing the two on price makes sense for this winter. The longer-running story is the county building. It is the first community amenity to open at Premier North since the library. Residents have been reminding commissioners for years that the land was bought with that kind of amenity in mind.
What Opened on Oct. 12
The Life Time club at 5000 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. N. covers more than 180,000 square feet. Your Observer reported that nearly 3,000 members had signed up before opening day. The outdoor beach club takes up about 50,000 square feet. It has a leisure pool with two slides and a mushroom fountain, a five-lane lap pool, cabanas, and an outdoor dining area with poolside service. Next to it is a pickleball area with five covered and six uncovered courts. Three more indoor courts are on the fitness floor. The building also has a spa and salon, a café, a bar and lounge, coworking space, a Kids Academy, and a clinic with licensed chiropractors.
General manager Steve Datte told the Observer that people new to the brand "get excited about what they're going to do with their days now." The club's hours support that kind of all-day use. Life Time's Lakewood Ranch page lists 4 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. Memberships are month-to-month. The Bradenton Herald reported that junior memberships start at $100.
Life Time also sells one-day memberships. Under its guest and club policy, the price runs from $30 to $100 depending on the location, and outdoor pool access can cost extra. The company's outdoor pool policy treats beach club access as seasonal, with each club setting its own season. The October schedule lists outdoor lap swim and family swim. Datte's team expects staffing to grow from more than 200 now to nearly 300 next summer, "when the pool is in full swing."
The Pool That Exists Because Swim Families Asked for It
The county center is at 16350 Rangeland Parkway, next to the Lakewood Ranch Library. Its Manatee County facility page still says "Coming Soon." Construction started in February 2025. A February 2025 county release first forecast an opening in late summer or fall of 2026. In October, sports and leisure director Molly White told the Bradenton Herald that the county is "aiming for the end of December."
The center's main feature is a heated 50-meter competition pool. It almost wasn't built. Your Observer reported that swimmers, coaches and parents filled the commission chambers in 2021 and persuaded the county to drop its original 25-meter plan. The Lakewood Ranch Swim Association Lightning, Parrish Bull Sharks and Sarasota Tsunami teams are planning a swim meet for the grand opening. The Lightning and Tsunami currently share lanes at the John Marble Aquatics Center and will share them again at Premier.
A $1 million geothermal yard heats and cools the water for both pools. Teams will pay to rent lanes. Individual residents won't pay, because Manatee County doesn't charge residents to use its pools. Both the 50-meter pool and the therapy pool have lifts.
There are 24 pickleball courts, and 14 of them are covered. A shaded hitting wall is being installed. Courts are booked through CourtReserve, and White says some courts will be held for drop-in play at all times. Behind the courts, a concrete walking path loops around a pond. There is also room for tennis courts later if the county finds the money.
Side by Side, Before the County Opens
| Life Time Lakewood Ranch | Athletics & Aquatics Center, Premier North | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Open since Oct. 12 | Aiming for end of December, no date set |
| Address | 5000 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. N. | 16350 Rangeland Parkway |
| Lap swimming | Five-lane outdoor lap pool | Heated 50-meter competition pool |
| Other water | Leisure pool with two slides, cabanas | Therapy pool with lift |
| Pickleball | 14 courts, 3 indoor and 5 covered | 24 courts, 14 covered |
| Cost | Adult memberships from $339 a month | Free swim for county residents; pickleball $35 a month or $5 for two hours |
| Hours | 4 a.m. to midnight weekdays, 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekends | Expected 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon–Thu, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fri, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends |
The county hours in the table come from October reporting. The Lakewood Ranch Beacon noted that hours, fees and programs should be confirmed when the county announces the opening. The table points to an early split. Life Time covers the hours before work and late at night. The county pool will close at 4 p.m. on weekends, but it offers the longest lap lanes on the east side at no cost to residents. Pickleball players who just want courts will find more of them at Premier.
Why the County Building Matters Beyond Its Courts
On Sept. 1, the Manatee County Commission ended negotiations on a 190,000-square-foot ice rink at Premier Sports Campus North. Your Observer reported that residents from Lorraine Lakes and Solera used the meeting to remind commissioners of an older commitment. When the county bought the land from Schroeder-Manatee Ranch in 2017 and 2018, residents were told it would eventually hold a library, ball fields, a dog park and an amphitheater. One speaker quoted the county's own tourism director, who had said that Premier South would be for economic development and Premier North would be for the community.
So far, the library is the only one of those amenities that has opened. The swim and pickleball center will be the second. White described the project to the Herald as "fulfilling a promise to our residents." The dog park and amphitheater have no schedule. Another resident at the September meeting summed up what speakers were asking for:
"Boring as walking trails and trees might be, people like green space."
The new center has a walking trail and palm trees, so it answers part of that request. The rest of the land is still undecided now that the ice rink is off the table.
The Rest of Premier North, Due by Year's End
White told the Observer the campus will have "a lot of things" to celebrate by the end of the year. The projects due over the next two months are all on the same campus:
- Lakewood Ranch Library, second floor. The county closed the library building Oct. 18 through 21 to move the adult collection upstairs and set up more study rooms, and scheduled it to reopen Oct. 22 with modified services, and some in-building resources may be limited while the move continues in phases. You can rent the library's rooftop, which looks out over the new pools.
- Two synthetic-turf soccer fields. Forecast to be finished by year's end.
- The center's community room. It has floor-to-ceiling windows over the pools and can be rented for parties or split into two rooms, each with access to the catering kitchen.
White has said the opening will be a "fun, community celebration" with open pickleball play and swimmers in the competition pool. Until the county sets a date, Main Street has its own calendar. BooFest runs Oct. 30 from 6 to 9 p.m., Music on Main: Tribute to Heroes is Nov. 6, and the free Lakewood Ranch Holiday of the Arts takes over 8100 Lakewood Main Street on Dec. 5 and 6.
Living near a free 50-meter pool or a busy set of pickleball courts changes what an ordinary weekday looks like. At Fuller Group, we track how projects like Premier North reshape daily life on the east side of Lakewood Ranch. If the new pools and courts are part of your plans for a home here, or for a renovation that makes better use of one, we would welcome the chance to talk it through. Arrange a Private Consultation.
