Two former Denver tennis pros say they are buying the Rosemarie Shellaberger Tennis Center in Santa Fe from U.S. Bank.

Eric Rose and Sam Hitman say they aim to increase membership of the private club by offering free use of their courts on Friday nights this summer.

Hitman said he met with Mayor David Coss this week about making these "free-Friday tennis carnivals" a community initiative.

"We really feel that part of our business plan is getting not only all the current tennis players over there, but people that used to play tennis but haven't for a long time, and really grow the game of tennis," Rose said.

The Shellaberger Tennis Center originated 30 years ago, when Rosemarie Shellaberger donated money to the old College of Santa Fe to build seven outdoor courts on its campus off St. Michael's Drive. In 2001, her estate provided $4 million to build the indoor tennis center at the southeastern edge of the campus.

In 2009, after the College of Santa Fe was dissolved, the city bought most of its campus and leased it to the private, for-profit Laureate Education, which reopened the school as Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

The Shellaberger Tennis Center, however, became the property of First Community Bank, which held a mortgage on the facility. Earlier this year, U.S. Bank of Minneapolis took over First Community Bank and its assets.

Corey Matney, director of the center since March 2009, said the center currently is managed by Shellaberger LLC. The firm's sole organizer is Roger Prucino of Santa Fe.

The Shellaberger Tennis Center, which sits on a little more than 8 acres, has six indoor courts, one outdoor stadium that seats 1,000, a small workout room and meeting rooms. The center has about 300 members who pay an initiation fee of about $500 plus about $100 a month.

"Everything's really kind of an open slate," Matney said. "We're going over ideas and further plans, and we've notified our membership to an extent. We haven't sent out formal letters. (Monday) night was basically our first announcement to the membership."

Rose and Hitman say they plan to close the sale June 30. No price has been announced. They say they plan to keep Matney and the other employees, numbering fewer than 10.

"Our philosophy on that is if it's working, we're not changing it," Hitman said. "We want to increase and improve and enhance, but if it's already working, we're leaving it alone."

Rose and Hitman met in 1993 when they were working as tennis pros at Denver's Gates Tennis Center and later went into business together selling electronic massage chairs.

In 2006, they began to manage the publicly owned Gates Tennis Center, which hosts the Colorado State Open and the Colorado girls and boys high-school tennis championships on its 20 outdoor courts.

Later, through their company, Colorado Tennis Management, they began to manage Denver's Jewish Community Center Tennis Facility with four indoor and four outdoor courts.

Their plan to buy Shellaberger Tennis Center is the first time they've purchased a tennis facility.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.