An action shot from Performance Pickleball’s Regency venue. (Courtesy PPB)
The Richmond region’s biggest indoor pickleball venue is on the move to southwestern Virginia.
Performance Pickleball, which opened a few months ago with 12 courts inside Regency mall in Henrico’s West End, announced Wednesday its plans to take its concept to Roanoke.
Led by co-founders Jon Laaser and Lee Warfield, Performance Pickleball will open the new facility in a leased space in part of the indoor Spectrum Sports Academy along Interstate 581 near the Roanoke-Blacksburg regional airport.
The facility will feature 10 indoor courts, event areas, a pro shop and a similar food and beverage concept to that of Richmond called Kitchen ROA. The Regency food operation is called Kitchen RVA.
The expansion comes on the heels of PPB’s December debut at Regency, where it took over 41,000 square feet in part of a former Macy’s department store in the mall. Warfield said the success of the Richmond location and the tight-knit nature of the pickleball community gives the group confidence that the brand will travel well to a new market.
“We’re taking the leap west,” said Warfield, who also is CEO of locally based commercial real estate giant Thalhimer. “We’ve had a great launch in Richmond. We feel like we’ve created a really great brand that’s already well known in the state and in Roanoke.”
The Richmond venue has around 435 members, who pay a range of $39-$199 a month. PPB also offers hourly rates starting at $6.
Performance Pickleball owners Lee Warfield and Jon Laaser. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Laaser, who co-founded PPB with Warfield and other investors after a career in broadcasting including for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, said Roanoke was on their map even before opening in Regency. He said they waited to formally strike a deal for the second location while first streamlining operations at the original facility.
“Roanoke was always the second location that we were eyeing,” Laaser said. “We certainly wanted to get our feet under us here a bit and iron out some of the operational kinks.”
Laaser said he and Warfield will be owners of the Roanoke venture and they will bring in a slightly different ownership group than that of the Richmond venue that may include a mix of some of their Richmond backers and folks from the Roanoke area.
While smaller than the Richmond region, Warfield said the Roanoke area has an active and growing pickleball scene but lacks a large-scale dedicated venue for the fast-growing sport.
“There’s a real shortage of places to play there, certainly nothing indoors of anything to scale,” he said. “Some outdoor courts are starting to pop up but it’s far less than what we see in Richmond.”
As part of its efforts in Roanoke, the group has already developed a relationship with the Roanoke Ruckus, a pickleball club that is helping to promote the new facility. Tim Cass, a co-founder of the Ruckus, has been hired to work as head pro and director of instruction at the Roanoke venue.
The Roanoke venue will use the same branding as that of PPB’s Regency location.
Work on the Roanoke venue is to begin this summer with a goal of opening before year’s end.
The group would not comment on the anticipated cost for the project. Warfield said the goal is to raise enough equity from investors to not have to take on outside debt.
Laaser said the buildout of the Roanoke space will be less involved, as it was already built to be used for indoor sports.
Most promising is the fact that the Spectrum building has a pitched roof with ceiling heights that are favorable to a sport like pickleball. That’s a contrast from having to work around the lower ceilings in the former Macy’s at Regency.
“It has none of the challenges of ceiling height like we had here (at Regency),” Laaser said of Roanoke. “Our build timeline isn’t nearly as long.”
As for whether they’re looking beyond Richmond and Roanoke, Warfield said the group is keeping an open mind for further expansion opportunities, citing Hampton Roads as a potentially attractive market.
Warfield said word has spread about the PPB concept beyond its home market and even its home state, particularly due to its success in bringing a long-empty department store space back to life. Warfield said he’s heard from folks in the commercial real estate world who see pickleball as a new use for vacant spaces.
“We definitely have gotten inquiries from people from several states,” he said.
An action shot from Performance Pickleball’s Regency venue. (Courtesy PPB)
The Richmond region’s biggest indoor pickleball venue is on the move to southwestern Virginia.
Performance Pickleball, which opened a few months ago with 12 courts inside Regency mall in Henrico’s West End, announced Wednesday its plans to take its concept to Roanoke.
Led by co-founders Jon Laaser and Lee Warfield, Performance Pickleball will open the new facility in a leased space in part of the indoor Spectrum Sports Academy along Interstate 581 near the Roanoke-Blacksburg regional airport.
The facility will feature 10 indoor courts, event areas, a pro shop and a similar food and beverage concept to that of Richmond called Kitchen ROA. The Regency food operation is called Kitchen RVA.
The expansion comes on the heels of PPB’s December debut at Regency, where it took over 41,000 square feet in part of a former Macy’s department store in the mall. Warfield said the success of the Richmond location and the tight-knit nature of the pickleball community gives the group confidence that the brand will travel well to a new market.
“We’re taking the leap west,” said Warfield, who also is CEO of locally based commercial real estate giant Thalhimer. “We’ve had a great launch in Richmond. We feel like we’ve created a really great brand that’s already well known in the state and in Roanoke.”
The Richmond venue has around 435 members, who pay a range of $39-$199 a month. PPB also offers hourly rates starting at $6.
Performance Pickleball owners Lee Warfield and Jon Laaser. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Laaser, who co-founded PPB with Warfield and other investors after a career in broadcasting including for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, said Roanoke was on their map even before opening in Regency. He said they waited to formally strike a deal for the second location while first streamlining operations at the original facility.
“Roanoke was always the second location that we were eyeing,” Laaser said. “We certainly wanted to get our feet under us here a bit and iron out some of the operational kinks.”
Laaser said he and Warfield will be owners of the Roanoke venture and they will bring in a slightly different ownership group than that of the Richmond venue that may include a mix of some of their Richmond backers and folks from the Roanoke area.
While smaller than the Richmond region, Warfield said the Roanoke area has an active and growing pickleball scene but lacks a large-scale dedicated venue for the fast-growing sport.
“There’s a real shortage of places to play there, certainly nothing indoors of anything to scale,” he said. “Some outdoor courts are starting to pop up but it’s far less than what we see in Richmond.”
As part of its efforts in Roanoke, the group has already developed a relationship with the Roanoke Ruckus, a pickleball club that is helping to promote the new facility. Tim Cass, a co-founder of the Ruckus, has been hired to work as head pro and director of instruction at the Roanoke venue.
The Roanoke venue will use the same branding as that of PPB’s Regency location.
Work on the Roanoke venue is to begin this summer with a goal of opening before year’s end.
The group would not comment on the anticipated cost for the project. Warfield said the goal is to raise enough equity from investors to not have to take on outside debt.
Laaser said the buildout of the Roanoke space will be less involved, as it was already built to be used for indoor sports.
Most promising is the fact that the Spectrum building has a pitched roof with ceiling heights that are favorable to a sport like pickleball. That’s a contrast from having to work around the lower ceilings in the former Macy’s at Regency.
“It has none of the challenges of ceiling height like we had here (at Regency),” Laaser said of Roanoke. “Our build timeline isn’t nearly as long.”
As for whether they’re looking beyond Richmond and Roanoke, Warfield said the group is keeping an open mind for further expansion opportunities, citing Hampton Roads as a potentially attractive market.
Warfield said word has spread about the PPB concept beyond its home market and even its home state, particularly due to its success in bringing a long-empty department store space back to life. Warfield said he’s heard from folks in the commercial real estate world who see pickleball as a new use for vacant spaces.
“We definitely have gotten inquiries from people from several states,” he said.
Lee has always had a good eye for growth. Expansion of the fastest growing sport in the U.S. makes sense. A fall opening will enable a winter ramp up of members.
I find the local facility to be impressive. I am glad they are doing well. It has become my favorite venue for tournaments. Jon wants to put on a tournament? No need to contact the counties to block off courts for the weekend – just have it at his own facility! Being indoors, you can have tournaments over the winter, whereas in the past those were pretty much shut down November through March.