Proximo Padel Northbrook: Padel Coming to the North Shore

Proximo Padel Heads to the North Shore

Chicago's fastest-growing padel brand is heading for the suburbs. Proximo Padel — the operator behind the city's buzzy Belmont Cragin flagship — is planning a new club in Northbrook, an affluent village on Chicago's North Shore. There's no confirmed opening date yet, so file this one under "coming soon," but the signal is clear: padel is pushing north out of the city core and into the suburbs where racquet sports already have deep roots.

For North Shore players who have been driving downtown to find a court, that's a big deal.

Proximo's Chicago Growth Story

Proximo Padel is the work of brothers Alex and Victor Vainberg, who opened their first club in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side in March 2026. That flagship — a 27,000-square-foot space with four indoor courts under 40-foot ceilings, non-glare ring lighting, and synthetic turf — set the template: serious padel facilities wrapped in a social club, with a juice bar, café lounge, pro shop, and changing rooms with showers. Memberships start around $120 a month.

Northbrook is the next chapter. Together with a planned Goose Island location closer to downtown, it gives Proximo a two-front strategy — one urban, one suburban — aimed at making padel a normal weekend activity across the whole metro. You can follow the original Belmont Cragin club on Padel Browser as the rest of the footprint comes online.

Why Northbrook

Northbrook is a natural fit. The North Shore suburb has long been racquet-sports territory — tennis and platform tennis are practically a local pastime — and its residents have both the disposable income and the appetite for a premium indoor club. Indoor matters here: Midwest winters are brutal, and a climate-controlled facility means year-round play when outdoor courts are buried in snow.

Reporting on the project has described Northbrook as Proximo's most ambitious build yet, reportedly planned around seven padel courts and six pickleball courts and pitched as an "epicenter of padel and pickleball in the Midwest." We will confirm the final court count and amenities once the club opens — pre-opening plans change — but the ambition tracks with where the North Shore market is heading.

Chicago's Padel Scene in 2026

A year ago, Chicago barely had a padel court. Now it has a genuine scene. Inside the city, Union Padel Club and the members-only Saddle & Cycle Club have both put courts on the map, and Proximo's flagship added serious capacity on the Northwest Side. For the full rundown, see our guide to where to play padel in Chicago.

The North Shore is quietly becoming its own padel corridor. Alma Padel in Glenview, Club Pickle & Padel in Highland Park, and Padel Clube in Mundelein already give northern suburbanites real options — and a Proximo club in Northbrook would slot neatly into that cluster. It's part of a broader story we have been tracking in the growth of padel in the Midwest.

What to Expect at the Northbrook Club

Expect the Proximo formula, scaled up for the suburbs: indoor courts built for league play and clinics, open-play sessions for drop-ins, and the lounge-and-café social layer that has become the brand's signature. If the reported plans hold, the pickleball side will make it a flexible racquet destination for the whole family, not just padel diehards.

For now, the smart move is to follow the club's progress and get on the list early — opening-soon clubs in hot markets fill their intro clinics fast.