There is no denying the popularity of pickleball as new venues seem to be popping everywhere, and that is certainly the case in Atlanta. Perhaps no venue captures the sport better than the pickleball-dedicated The Painted Pickle, where guests enjoy an 'unbeatable recreational experience' thanks to the help of Snap One, now part of ADI, and Sunbelt Technology.
The AV and automation features integrated into the professional-grade pickleball “compeatery” marked Sunbelt Technology’s third project with the group. Their familiarity and experience with ADI/Snap One brands Control4, WattBox, Luma, OvrC and Araknis gave the team a good feel for the client’s expectations and the systems and features required for a seamless experience. Music and video throughout; fast, reliable Wi-Fi access; top-notch surveillance, and a simple means of managing and monitoring the facility worked well at Painted Hospitality’s other compeateries; Sunbelt Technology stuck with this winning formula for the 30,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor pickleball venue in Atlanta. Besides being familiar to the owners, the Control4 platform allows them to monitor all three different properties from a single app, enhancing convenience and operational efficiency.
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Game Play with Music and Video
Sunbelt Technology integrated a sophisticated multi-zone AV system at The Painted Pickle. The goal was to ensure music and video enhanced every aspect of the experience on and off the courts from competition to relaxation. The team strategically installed roughly 50 pendant-style, commercial-grade speakers, suspended from the rafters to avoid disrupting play on the pickleball courts.
With pickleball as the main attraction, the facility’s 10 courts are active daily, offering a variety of events, from open play to specialized tournaments and clinics. In other areas, like the restaurant, sushi bar, cocktail bar, putt-putt course and shuffleboard court, Sunbelt Technology tucked Episode speakers flush with the ceiling surface to maintain a clean aesthetic. A Control4 system delivers audio to every speaker, a task simplified by the touch of an “All On” button on a Control4 touchpad. The same command also activates more than 20 TVs, including Samsung displays inside and SunBrite TVs outside. To provide a tailored entertainment experience, Sunbelt Technology arranged the TVs and speakers into several distinct zones, enabling independent volume adjustments and source selection via any of three Control4 touchpads or a custom app on employees’ smartphones. Another app assigned to the 16 Luma surveillance cameras lets employees view live and recorded footage, enhancing the security and management of the venue.
Watts Up?
“Our goal from the onset was to integrate and automate for simplicity,” said Sunbelt Technology’s Wes Bradshaw. “Just like the other facilities under the Painted Hospitality Group umbrella, it was imperative the system must be easy for all employees to operate.”
However, things happen, devices need rebooting, software needs updating and automation schedules need adjusting. Any downtime for alterations was out of the question. “With Control4’s Composer Pro software, we can log in and make changes from our office, or anywhere else, at any time,” Bradshaw remarked.
The team can also reset the systems remotely by accessing the project’s many WattBox IP controllable power distribution units. Every electrical outlet was fitted with a WattBox unit featuring Snap One's remote monitoring platform, OvrC, which enables Sunbelt Technology to initiate an automatic reset at 3 a.m. every Sunday. The Painted Pickle owners and staff can rest assured that everything is operating optimally. They can arrive at work, hit “All On” and continue about their day. This convenient troubleshooting solution also minimizes Sunbelt Technology’s time and resources that would otherwise be required by an onsite visit.
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Off-Court Camaraderie
The facility also hosts many non-competitive social events. Recognizing the diverse needs of the venue, however, Sunbelt Technology ensured that technology would also support non-competitive events. They equipped a dedicated theater space with a high-performance projection system and immersive surround-sound, making it ideal for movie screenings and live on-stage performances. The audio and video from this main entertainment area can be distributed to the speakers and displayed elsewhere so that everyone can enjoy the main attraction. Again, the staff can pick and choose how, when and where to pipe audio and video via the convenience of the Control4 platform.
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By leveraging advanced technologies from Snap One and ADI, including Control4, Luma, OvrC, Araknis and WattBox, Sunbelt Technology has created a seamless environment that supports everything from competitive pickleball matches to dynamic social events.
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A solid, reliable Wi-Fi connection helps keep things running smoothly at The Painted Pickle, too. It’s essential not only for the management and control of the AV technologies onsite, but the operation and security of the facility’s point-of-sale (POS) system. “The Araknis IP switches and Wattbox power distribution units are crucial, as they allow us to log in, reset the POS system, or change IP settings if necessary,” Bradshaw said.
