For decades, Holiday Park was the answer to a simple question: where do you go for a jog, a pickup match, or a Friday night on a blanket. That answer still holds. What has changed is everything around it. In the last two years, the 93 acres wedged between Federal Highway and East Sunrise Boulevard absorbed roughly $75 million in new construction and renovation, and the result is not a prettier park. It is a compact entertainment district you can walk to from your front door.
If you live here, this is a practical guide to what is actually open, what is scheduled, and what to do about it.
The park is not a park anymore
Consider the footprint. Inside a single perimeter you now have twenty clay tennis courts, two NHL-regulation ice rinks, a 3,500-capacity concert hall booked by Live Nation, a full-service restaurant, a hockey retail flagship, the original football field, pickleball courts, and a roller rink. Very few urban parks in Florida carry that density, and none of them sit inside a residential neighborhood the size of this one.
The reason is a public-private stack that most residents never see itemized. The Baptist Health IcePlex and War Memorial redevelopment ran roughly $65 million through a partnership between the City of Fort Lauderdale and the Florida Panthers. On top of that, the Orange Bowl Committee contributed a $1.5 million Legacy Gift and the City added about $8 million to bring the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center rebuild to $9.5 million. Two projects, same fence line, finished within about eighteen months of each other.
On the clay
The tennis center reopened after a renovation that closed the courts starting January 6, 2025, with a scheduled ten-month build. What came back is different in kind, not degree. The complex now runs 20 sub-irrigated clay courts, plus a 700-seat Chris Evert Stadium Court dedicated in December 2025 in the presence of Chris Evert herself, along with high-efficiency LED lighting, new fencing, and rebuilt restrooms.
Two consequences for people who live nearby.
First, the Orange Bowl International Junior Tennis Championships, one of the most established youth tournaments in global tennis, is now hosted at Holiday Park. That is a week of world-ranked juniors playing on the same courts where you can book a lesson.
Second, the day-to-day changed. The center added an online court reservation system and expanded clinics for players ages 4 and up, and the sub-irrigation system is the same infrastructure used at top international clay venues, meaning the courts play truer and dry faster after a summer downpour. If you gave up on clay because the surface was inconsistent, you gave up on the old version.
The center's alumni list, for context on who used to hit here as kids: Chris Evert, Jennifer Capriati, Brian Gottfried, and Harold Solomon.
On the ice
Two rinks. Both NHL regulation. One is the Florida Panthers' practice facility with stadium seating for up to 1,000 fans, and Panthers practices and training camps are free and open to the public. The other rink is a community sheet with programming that runs from Try Hockey For Free days through Adult Hockey Leagues, figure skating classes, and public skate sessions. There are also five curling lanes, which is not a sentence anyone in Fort Lauderdale expected to write five years ago.
A quick reference for what sits where inside the complex:
| Venue | What it is | Notable detail |
|---|---|---|
| Baptist Health IcePlex | Two NHL-regulation rinks, five curling lanes | 144,000 sq ft; Panthers moved in December 2022, public opening March 21, 2024 |
| Pantherland powered by FLA Team Shop | Panthers flagship retail | 7,500 sq ft inside the IcePlex |
| The Federal | Full-service restaurant and bar with outdoor patio | Operated by Knallhart Management Group, overlooks the pickleball courts and roller rink |
| FTL War Memorial Auditorium | Live music and event venue | 3,500 capacity, programmed by Live Nation, mezzanine level for premium seating |
| Chris Evert Stadium Court | Match court at Jimmy Evert Tennis Center | 700 seats, dedicated December 2025 |
The IcePlex specifics are documented in the Panthers' own opening announcement, and the community rink calendar and Pantherland hours are posted on the FTL War Memorial site.
Inside the auditorium
The 1950 War Memorial had fallen into disrepair before the Panthers took on the interior. The auditorium reopened in late 2024 as a Live Nation-managed venue that fills a real gap in South Florida: a mid-sized room for touring acts too big for a club and too niche for an arena. The renovation added a mezzanine level, VIP areas, and reworked acoustics while preserving the mid-century bones.
Two shows worth putting on the calendar now, both from the venue's official events page:
- Brad Paisley Live, Friday, September 18, 2026
- Dark Star Orchestra, two nights, December 3 and 4, 2026
The 3,500-capacity room means most nights you will be within a hundred feet of the stage even from the back. It also means tickets move faster than the Hard Rock does, and residents within walking distance have an unfair advantage worth using.
Fridays on the football field
The oldest tradition at Holiday Park is also the most durable. The Bank of America Starlight Musicals concert series is in its 47th year, and the 2026 season runs Friday evenings from 7 to 10 p.m., June 5 through August 14, on the football field at 1150 G. Harold Martin Drive. There is no concert on July 3. Lawn chairs, picnic baskets, and coolers are welcome. Pets are not permitted in the park. Food and drinks are sold on site if you would rather travel light.
A few late-summer dates from the published lineup:
- August 7: Mischief (pop)
- August 14: Shane Duncan Band (party covers)
For eleven years running, the series has hosted food drives at each concert benefiting The Pantry of Broward, Life Net 4 Families, and Abandoned Pet Rescue. In case of weather, the special events hotline at (954) 828-5363 posts updates.
If you are new to the neighborhood and have never gone, the practical advice is to arrive by 6:15, park along the residential streets north of Sunrise, and set up on the west side of the field where the sound tends to sit better.
What this means for a Wednesday
Roundups are easy to write and useless to read. So put the individual pieces down and consider the composite. On a normal Wednesday in Holiday Park, a resident can:
- Book a 7 a.m. clay court reservation online, walk over, and play on the same surface as the Orange Bowl juniors
- Take a lunch break at The Federal with a view of the pickleball courts
- Drop a kid at a Panthers Skating and Hockey Academy class in the late afternoon
- Watch the Panthers themselves run a practice for free if the schedule aligns
- Catch a Live Nation show at 8 p.m. without moving a car
The compression matters. Every one of those activities used to require a drive to Coral Springs, Sunrise, or Miami. Now they sit inside a walkable radius of a Fort Lauderdale zip code that historically traded on downtown proximity rather than amenity depth. That is the shift residents already sense and buyers looking at the area are still learning.
The residential read
None of this is a market call. It is a description of what is now attached to a Holiday Park address. The park was already an argument for the neighborhood. It is now a materially different argument than it was in 2022, and the change is well documented in city budgets, in the USTA's own coverage of the Chris Evert court dedication, and in the Panthers' opening ceremonies.
If you already live here, the takeaway is simpler than any of that. Book the court. Try the curling. Buy the Brad Paisley ticket. The infrastructure that took two years and $75 million to install is quieter on a Tuesday morning than most residents realize.
If you are curious how the changes around Holiday Park factor into what homes in the surrounding streets look like today, the team at Tim Singer has covered these blocks since 1987 and is happy to walk through the neighborhood in person or by phone. View homes for sale.