Grove Eye Care has operated at 3601 Grove Ave. in Carytown since the early 1970s. The optometry practice is preparing to exit the office in favor of a new location at Regency mall in Henrico County. (Jack Jacobs photos)
A local medical practice is leaving its longtime home in the city and headed to the mall.
Grove Eye Care is planning to relocate from 3601 Grove Ave., where it has operated for decades, to a new office in Regency in western Henrico in early September.
The optometry practice will be operating out of part of Regency’s former food court, which has been closed for the last several years amid the mall’s ongoing transformation into a mixed-use destination.
The new 7,500-square-foot office will be several times larger than the space on Grove Avenue and will feature 12 exam rooms and an optical retail space. The new office will also have procedure rooms to provide therapies and treatments for dry eye, a service that isn’t offered at the Grove Avenue location.
“It’s going to give me the space to offer more services we don’t currently have in the old location,” Grove Eye Care owner Dr. Jerry Neidigh said of the move to Regency, adding that the practice will keep its current name despite leaving its namesake avenue.
Neidigh said that business has been strong at the Grove Avenue location, and the larger office and more parking would help the practice accommodate demand.
“It gives us a lot more parking and space,” Neidigh said. “We’re busy and it’s hard for patients to get in.”
The Regency office project is expected to cost $1.5 million to build out and equip. Grove Eye Care has a 12-year lease on the space.
Grove Eye Care is planning to open its new office in part of Regency’s food court, which is being split with another new tenant, Tee Box, an indoor golf facility.
Grove Eye Care’s neighbor in the former food court will be indoor golf facility Tee Box, which is expected to open in June. Regency owners Thalhimer Realty Partners and Rebkee had initially planned to redevelop the food court into a revamped food hall concept, but ultimately decided against it.
Neidigh said he landed on Regency because he was impressed with its ongoing redevelopment and subsequent arrival of new businesses, a notable number of which are geared toward sports and entertainment instead of shopping, and the addition of apartments at the mall.
Neidigh had considered adding a second space near the Grove Avenue location, but the search was ultimately unsuccessful and he pivoted to a hunt for a larger space elsewhere. Neidigh said it was tough to leave the office the business has called home since the early 1970s. The practice also has a location at 14431 Sommerville Court in Chesterfield County, which will continue to operate.
“I was looking at a third location because I always told myself I wouldn’t leave that corner … but it got to the point where we can’t get our patients in in a timely fashion. I needed to do something to accommodate the growing need,” said Neidigh, who has been at the practice since the late 1990s. He came on as a co-owner in the mid-2000s and has been the practice’s sole owner since 2019.
Grove Eye Care has nine doctors and 30 other staffers. Neidigh said he intended to hire three or four more doctors and 10 more staff over the next three to five years.
The optometry practice currently leases its Grove Avenue space. That building is owned by former Grove Eye Care owner Bruce Kiraly. There was a for-sale sign at the property earlier this week. Jim Ashby of Thalhimer has the listing.
Print Article