This was in the Post this morning

For Tennisport -- one of the city's best-known public recreation facilities -- it's game, set, match.

After 33 years in Hunters Point, Queens, the center that has hosted celebs and tennis stars will be shutting its doors July 31 as the city begins work on a massive housing complex overlooking the East River.

"We'd love to stay another year, but the city is telling us they're ready to put a shovel in the ground," said Andrea Botur, whose father, Freddie, built the club on the site of an old dump in an abandoned section of waterfront.

For three decades, the club has been a labor of love for the family.

The 16 red-clay indoor courts and eight remaining Har-Tru outdoor courts have played host to Tom Brokaw, Robert Redford, Sean Connery and Liam Neeson, among others.

John McEnroe liked the place so much, he built his own court there.

For the past 20 years, the Boturs have known match point was near.

First, the state had eyed it as part of its enormous Queens West development. In 2002, the state forced the family to sell the property through eminent domain.

The Boturs negotiated several two-year extensions while development plans went bust.

Finally, the city bought the property from the state in 2006.

Mayor Bloomberg has proposed building 5,000 units of middle-income housing and a school for the 24-acre site.

City officials said they would begin work preparing the land, which has little infrastructure, by the end of the year.

Freddie Botur, a tennis impresario of sorts, had opened and been forced to leave a series of tennis clubs around the city before he landed at Hunters Point, then an industrial wasteland just one subway stop from Manhattan.

"It was a garbage dump when my father found it," said Andrea Botur, whose dad is now 87 and still works at the club.

"It seemed courageous at the time. He built the club and thought he was safe here."

One of the club's charms is its seeming timelessness. For the past 20 years, Botur has operated under the threat of being forced out. His daughter said that as a result, they never really changed the place much.

"A lot of people like that," she said of the '70s style that remains.

Now the Boturs are busy finding new jobs for their 30 employees and 15 tennis pros.

When Freddie Botur first started his business here in LIC he was quoted in a very prominent NY Magazine saying that all our old houses were beyond repair and needed to be torn down.  He found them an eye sour for the many celebrities driving past on their way to his tennisport.

How ironic is it that his tennisport will be torn down to make way for a massive housing complex?

opps!  that's "eye sore". 

As a lifetime resident of LIC living a couple of blocks away from Tennisport, I have to say, my feelings are quite mixed.  Membership at the club was never an option for me, as the cost was always out of reach, as it is for most in my circle of friends and family.  For tennis, I must travel elsewhere.  So, as far as the loss to the immediately community, I'm not so sure there is a huge impact.  That being said, the city has fewer and fewer tennis facilities and the loss of yet another club will only make it that much more difficult to get courts at the remaining, less pricey facilities.  What's more, Tennisport put us on the map, once upon a time.  You could use it to identify where you lived - That place across the East River with the tennis bubble? You must have seen it.  On occasion, I've run into a celebrity coming from or going to Tennisport, and that was always good for a thrill.  Tell me, when will Jim Courier ever come back to LIC after Tennisport is torn down?  Finally, it is always sad to see the loss of something that is somewhat of a landmark, an institution.  First Schwartz Chemical, then the old Courthouse (10-63 Vernon), and now Tennisport.  The flavor of old LIC has really disappeared.

And why?  Do we really need 5,000 more units in the neighborhood?  What is the current definition of "middle income housing?"  Do we have specifics?  Will one measily little astro-turf field fulfill the sporting needs of our neighborhood's burgeoning population?  Will the new school come equipped with outdoor play area for its students?  Most communities are comprised of living quarters and living "spaces" - parks and recreational spaces.  Our piers are lovely but there are no activities to be done there, other than fishing or gazing at the skyline.  We need baseball and soccer fields, tennis courts, basketball courts and room to just play!

If Tennisport is to be torn down in the name of "development," I say the space should be used to benefit the community, where it did not in the past. 

I think the neighborhood should push for more boating slips. My humble opinion.

I would have thought that the proposed waterfront park would included public tennis courts like the ones in Cunningham or Central Park.  This would have made it a great amenity for the community and would have kept the tennis tradition of LIC.