Tucson Racquet Club sold, will get upgrades not condos

A country club in the city is being restored to its former glory.

The Tucson Racquet Club, 4001 N. Country Club Road, has been taken over by the grandson of the original founder.

Joseph Tofel and associates originally built a tennis club near the old El Conquistador Hotel, now the site of El Con Mall, in the 1950s.

But when El Con was being developed, Tofel built a new facility — the Tucson Racquet Club — in 1967 and, over the years, hosted the University of Arizona tennis team along with professional matches, such as the American Airlines competition and Davis Cup events.

Now his beloved club is in the hands of his grandson, Jim Tofel, along with Jim’s wife, Allyson, and Jim’s cousin Lynn Tofel Dent and her husband, David Dent.

“I’m excited for this new venture we’re getting into,” Jim Tofel said. “For us, it’s about trying to keep the original legacy alive.”

He said the club needs some freshening up.

“About half of the tennis courts are not in the condition for tennis tournaments and we want to bring them up to current standards,” said Tofel, a managing member of Tofel Dent Construction.

Membership is down about 25% since the pandemic and Tofel hopes to regain former customers and attract new ones.

Membership fees range from $50 to $200 a month.

Aside from tennis, activities include basketball, volleyball, swim lessons, exercise classes, child care, a salon and massages.

And the popular sport of pickleball has been added with more courts planned.

“The club has something for everyone,” said Sandy McCaslin, its general manager. “Some members have been here since it opened.”

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There are two restaurants and a bar at the club, and they are looking at once again hosting wedding and events at the 20-acre site.

The club will also add an internet café workspace for members, McCaslin said.

“We’re really looking to enhance the club,” she said. “It really is a country club feel without the country club price.”

In the 1970s, the club was also a ranch with overnight guests.

The housing development to the south of the club was originally part of the ranch, Tofel said.

“But some members felt like they were second-class citizens to the guests,” he said. That amenity was discontinued.

When Joseph Tofel’s second wife, Marian, died the club was passed to her sons.

There were rumors that the club would be turned into condominiums.

“The message we want to get out is the club will remain a club, not become a housing development,” Jim Tofel said.

“I know he would be proud,” he said of his grandfather. “It was both his and Marian’s dying wish that it would remain a club.”

Learn more about the country club at tucsonracquetclub.com.