ESPN analyst and basketball commentator Steffi Sorensen is planning to open a gym with pickleball courts in St. Johns County.
Dark Horse, a 20,000-square-foot fitness center, will feature open-air amenities, sports performance facilities, and recovery and wellness programs, according to a statement from Sorensen.
The site is on the north side of Greenbriar Road, east of Florida 13 North. It is about 1.2 miles west of Longleaf Pine Parkway and the Shoppes of Rivertown. It is west of Brambly Vine Drive.
The project requires a rezoning from Open Rural to Planned Unit Development. The county is reviewing plans.
The center will offer classes, personal training, two floors of specialized equipment, group recovery sessions and amenities such as pickleball courts and sports-specific training for athletes.
Site plans show 47 parking spaces.
The 11.8-acre property is owned by the Sorensen Chris R Family Trust. They bought it in 2022 for $1.5 million from Michael R. and Heather C. Styduhar.
Southeast Engineering Group, based in St. Johns County, is the project’s civil engineer.
Sorensen, a former University of Florida basketball player, is the daughter of Firehouse Subs co-founder Chris Sorensen.
She walked on at Florida as a junior in 2008, where she became team captain within a year and started every game. In her first season, she set the school’s single-season 3-point shooting percentage record at 39%.
According to Cecily Sorensen, a spokesperson for the project, the Dark Horse name is a reflection on Steffi Sorensen’s career.
“As an ESPN college basketball analyst, Steffi and her colleagues often chose a “dark horse” team or player that you might not expect to upset a game or ranked team. Or someone that isn’t being talked about. Steffi felt that the name encapsulated her career – being a walk-on at Florida for example and then graduating as team captain and having started every game. Nobody ever expected that she could do that.”
In addition to her work with ESPN, Sorensen has been a sideline reporter for college football on FOX Sports and a studio analyst for CBS Sports Network. She is also a personal trainer and a former fitness model.
A native of St. Johns, Sorensen was Miss Florida Basketball in 2006 and scored 2,147 points for Bartram Trail High School.