Tee Box franchisee Kai Laird celebrates the pending opening of his Regency location.
The latest player in the increasingly competitive local indoor golf market is ready for its debut.
Tee Box, a Utah-based chain of high-tech simulator-powered indoor golf facilities, is set to open its first Richmond-area location in Regency on Saturday.
Led by local franchisee Kai Laird, the new venue occupies a nearly 5,000-square-foot space in part of the former food court at the ever-transforming western Henrico mall.
Laird, who also owns sports psychology practice The Performance Pursuit, spent around $1 million to equip the space with four hitting bays, an interactive putting green, a golf-focused gym and other amenities.
Tee Box at Regency will be open 24/7, with a self-serve setup allowing members to access the facility through the app. Laird will also employ a golf pro for lessons, club fittings and club sales.
Tee Box Regency’s hitting bay area. (Courtesy Kai Laird/Tee Box)
Memberships at Tee Box Regency will cost $399 a month with a required annual commitment. Laird said around three dozen memberships had already been sold leading up to the opening. A grand opening is planned for later next month.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Laird and his wife moved to Richmond last year specifically to start the Tee Box franchise and looked at multiple locations around the region before choosing Regency.
Laird was attracted by the presence of sports-related and non-traditional tenants that have come to the mall in recent years as part of its reinvention at the hands of owners Thalhimer Realty Partners and Rebkee.
Tee Box’s neighbors in Regency include NOVA Aquatics, Performance Pickleball RVA, Monster Mini Golf and virtual reality venue Pelagos VR.
Tee Box will also soon be joined in the former food court area by optometry practice Grove Eye Care, which is building out a space next door.
There’s also soon to be more than 600 residences on the mall property, with the second phase of apartments under construction.
Tee Box enters a competitive field in the Richmond area for indoor simulator-powered golf facilities. More than a handful of out-of-town chains and local players have set up shot here in recent years, including Back Nine, X-Golf, Indoor Golf RVA, Tee It Up and GreenClub.
The Tee Box putting green also taps into a projector-based tech system.
While each offers hitting bays equipped with simulators that analyze customers’ swings as they hit a ball into a screen showing virtual versions of real-life golf courses, Laird has said Tee Box will differentiate itself for its 1,000-square-foot gym designed to help golfers strengthen their golf muscles.
Tee Box also offers an app that will analyze data and make workout recommendations to improve swing mechanics in the on-site gym and make recommendations for club fittings.
Cross Creek Builders was the general contractor for the build-out of Tee Box’s space. Spectrum Designs was the architect. Fulton Bank is Laird’s lender on the project.
The Regency venue will be the first Tee Box location in Virginia and one of the brand’s first on the East Coast. The bulk of the growing chain’s current locations are in Utah, Idaho, Texas and California, while many of its upcoming spots are in Florida.
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