The Crossings has changed ownership three times since 2014. The McConnell deal will be the fourth.
Nearly two years ago Henrico paid $3 million to purchase The Crossings Golf Club with the hopes of teeing up a pro-tournament-caliber renovation for the aging course.
After that initial plan didn’t pan out as expected, the county is taking another swing and unloading the shuttered property for $1 to try to get the idea back on track.
The Henrico Economic Development Authority announced today its intention to sell the 268-acre Crossings property to McConnell Golf, a North Carolina-based firm that owns more than a dozen courses, including two in Virginia.
In exchange for the nominal sales price, McConnell would agree to invest upwards of $6 million into renovating the course and clubhouse and reopening the Crossings as a public, daily-fee club that would also be open to local high school golf teams and for other tournaments, including potentially luring a professional golf event.
The deal, which also involves the county’s Sports & Entertainment Authority, could close in the next 45 days following McConnell’s due diligence period. The group hopes to reopen the Crossings for play in the fall of 2027.
“We see this as a unique opportunity to create something special – a high-quality public golf experience that serves the local community while also attracting regional and national events,” McConnell Golf founder and CEO John McConnell said in a prepared statement. “Henrico has been a strong partner throughout this process, and we believe this project will have meaningful economic and recreational impact.”
Cari Tretina, the newly installed director of the Henrico EDA, said the McConnell deal is aimed at helping the county achieve the goal it had in mind for the Crossings.
Cari Tretina
“(This) was exactly what was envisioned when we purchased the property years ago,” Tretina said in an interview with BizSense. “The (EDA and SEA) are the two pillars that help support Henrico’s economy, and this is a great example of what happens when we partner together to advance our collective goals, because it’s just going to help grow our economy and put us on the map.”
Henrico’s involvement in the Crossings began in late 2023, when the region was at risk of losing the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, as the popular PGA Tour Champions tournament’s yearslong run at Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course in western Henrico was coming to an abrupt end.
Henrico didn’t want to lose out on the DECC’s economic impact – estimated at $34 million annually at the time – and sought to find a new home for the event elsewhere within the county.
Working with Pros Inc., run by Independence Golf Club owner Giff Breed, the EDA crafted a public-private partnership to acquire and renovate the Crossings at 800 Virginia Center Parkway and make it the new long-term venue for the DECC.
The county saw the Crossings’ location as a main driver: it’s near the rapidly transforming former Virginia Center Commons mall, now anchored by the Henrico Sports & Events Center, as well as the massive economic development site then known as GreenCity, which the county hopes will one day host a 17,000-seat arena.
Though there was no formal agreement in place for the DECC to move to the Crossings, the EDA still took a shot and agreed to buy the course for $3 million and lease it to Pros Inc. Breed and his group would then begin the process of raising as much as $11 million to bring the course up to snuff for the PGA’s expectations in time to host the tournament this October.
But it wasn’t to be.
The county and Pros Inc. couldn’t gain enough traction in raising the capital needed to start the Crossings renovation in earnest.
Dennis Bickmeier, head of the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority, said nothing went wrong with the Pros Inc. partnership. It was simply a matter of making the numbers work.
Dennis Bickmeier
“There’s a substantial investment that it’s going to take to get this course completely renovated, and to this point we haven’t been able to raise those dollars from a public-private partnership standpoint to make that happen,” Bickmeier said.
Adding another moving piece, the PGA ultimately pivoted away from the DECC last fall and decided to bring a tournament from its Korn Ferry Tour developmental circuit to The Federal Club in the Glen Allen area of Hanover County for the next four years.
But Henrico didn’t give up on the Crossings or the idea of it someday hosting a pro tournament.
The deal with McConnell came about after the county began a search for a new player to take on the project.
The EDA and SEA connected with McConnell through a local contact, after McConnell had made its interest in the Richmond region known through a failed attempt to purchase Lakeside Park Club, formerly Jefferson Lakeside Country Club, in 2023.
Bickmeier said McConnell’s pitch was the most attractive of others the county received.
“We had a couple of interested groups that we talked to. McConnell came in with a little bit of a different angle with wanting to own the golf course and operate the golf course,” he said.
With its deal with McConnell pending, Henrico’s lease agreement with Pros Inc. will also need to be ended, but the county doesn’t expect any money would be involved in that process.
“I just want to thank (Pros Inc.) for all the work that they’ve done,” Bickmeier said. “Giff and his team, they’ve always approached this project with a positive outlook – what is good for golf in the Richmond region.”
Bickmeier said more than $1 million has been put into The Crossings so far, funded by an EDA sports tourism grant. Pros Inc. was involved in much of that work, which included upgrades to the existing clubhouse and kitchen, the driving range, as well as site planning, EPA studies and permitting.
Bickmeier said those efforts weren’t in vain.
“The work that Pros Inc. has done over the last year-plus will actually benefit this new group and help move things along at a quicker pace,” Bickmeier said.
A map showing the Crossing’s strategic location between the Henrico Sports & Events Center of the project formerly known as GreenCity.
In announcing the McConnell deal, Henrico said it aims to attract “professional, collegiate and national amateur tournaments,” to the Crossings.
That reference to a professional event stands out, given Henrico’s heavy involvement in the new Korn Ferry event, despite the fact that the tournament is being held at the Federal Club, which is located in Hanover.
Set for Oct. 5-11, the new event is billed as the “Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by Virginia’s Richmond Region,” thanks to a lead sponsorship package covered in part by the Henrico EDA and SEA.
When the new tournament was announced last fall, the press conference for the event was led largely by Henrico officials. A press release at the time included remarks from Dan Schmitt, then-chair of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors, referencing the county’s hunger to bring such an event back to Henrico and making clear that the Crossings was still in play.
“The Federal Club will provide an exceptional stage in 2026, and we look forward to building on this partnership and showcasing future venues, including The Crossings in Henrico, as premier destinations for professional golf,” Schmitt said.
This week, Tretina also alluded to the idea that the county sees the McConnell arrangement as a way to eventually bring an event like the Korn Ferry tournament to the Crossings.
“They operate and host tournaments of the exact same caliber that we have envisioned all along for The Crossings, to include Korn-Ferrys, so we’re really excited about their qualifications and their investment,” Tretina said of McConnell. “They’re looking to make a pretty substantial investment to renovate the golf course to bring it up to those PGA standards.”
BizSense reporter Jonathan Spiers contributed to this report.
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