The former Colonial Shooting Academy building will house Freedom Outdoors. (Photo by Michael Thompson)
The shuttered Colonial Shooting Academy building at 6020 W. Broad St. is set to be brought back to life under a new-to-Richmond brand.
Virginia Beach-based shooting range Freedom Outdoors purchased the former academy building for $6.5 million March 6.
The 60,000-square-foot range will be Freedom’s fourth location, joining others in Atlanta and Douglasville, Georgia, and Virginia Beach.
The local academy went dark last summer after 12 years in business, citing “market volatility, inflation and other factors” as the reasons for the closure. The facility cost upward of $12 million to outfit and was one of the largest indoor shooting ranges in the country when it opened in 2012. The building previously housed Colony House Furniture.
Freedom Outdoors is co-owned by President Skyler Thomas, who has a history with Colonial Shooting Academy. Freedom’s Virginia Beach location was previously owned by the academy and Thomas worked there.
In 2018, Thomas and multiple partners purchased the Virginia Beach location and rebranded it to a Freedom Outdoors location, the company’s first.
The Douglasville and Atlanta locations opened in 2023, after Freedom Outdoors acquired Stoddard’s Range and Guns, which previously owned the locations.
Having been in a “growth phase” in the past few years, Thomas said when he saw the academy’s West Broad Street building was going up for sale, the team jumped at the opportunity to purchase it.
“We’re finding a place with a good foundation and good bones, and our goal is to ‘Freedomize’ it,” he said.
Freedom is renovating the building’s existing shooting ranges and retail space, spokeswoman Erin Crooks said. It’ll also have an archery range. The retail space will allow customers to touch and shoulder firearms, which is not always common, she added.
“It will be a much more expanded area to be able to showcase firearms than before,” Crooks said. “Here, guns are obviously tethered and you cannot take them off the wall, but you’re able to go and actually touch a gun.”
Crooks said Freedom does not yet have an anticipated timeline for opening. Thomas declined to share renovation costs for the project.
Freedom is getting some products for the Richmond range from Provo, Utah-based Action Target. Most of the renovations will be done internally by the Freedom team, Thomas said, though it has hired Richmond-based Slocum Painting.
Freedom offers a $43.95 monthly range membership and a $63.95 monthly premier membership. A premier membership offers perks such as discounts on training courses and merchandise. Military and law enforcement members get a $5 discount on monthly memberships.
Freedom membership will extend to the new Richmond location and across all four of its locations.
The Richmond location will have about 50 employees, Thomas said. The company has around 245 employees total.
Thomas said that Freedom intends to open another location in Virginia but declined to specify where.
Jamie Galanti of Commonwealth Commercial handled the sale of the Broad Street building. The structure and its 2.6-acre parcel were most recently assessed by Henrico County at $5.97 million.
The former Colonial Shooting Academy building will house Freedom Outdoors. (Photo by Michael Thompson)
The shuttered Colonial Shooting Academy building at 6020 W. Broad St. is set to be brought back to life under a new-to-Richmond brand.
Virginia Beach-based shooting range Freedom Outdoors purchased the former academy building for $6.5 million March 6.
The 60,000-square-foot range will be Freedom’s fourth location, joining others in Atlanta and Douglasville, Georgia, and Virginia Beach.
The local academy went dark last summer after 12 years in business, citing “market volatility, inflation and other factors” as the reasons for the closure. The facility cost upward of $12 million to outfit and was one of the largest indoor shooting ranges in the country when it opened in 2012. The building previously housed Colony House Furniture.
Freedom Outdoors is co-owned by President Skyler Thomas, who has a history with Colonial Shooting Academy. Freedom’s Virginia Beach location was previously owned by the academy and Thomas worked there.
In 2018, Thomas and multiple partners purchased the Virginia Beach location and rebranded it to a Freedom Outdoors location, the company’s first.
The Douglasville and Atlanta locations opened in 2023, after Freedom Outdoors acquired Stoddard’s Range and Guns, which previously owned the locations.
Having been in a “growth phase” in the past few years, Thomas said when he saw the academy’s West Broad Street building was going up for sale, the team jumped at the opportunity to purchase it.
“We’re finding a place with a good foundation and good bones, and our goal is to ‘Freedomize’ it,” he said.
Freedom is renovating the building’s existing shooting ranges and retail space, spokeswoman Erin Crooks said. It’ll also have an archery range. The retail space will allow customers to touch and shoulder firearms, which is not always common, she added.
“It will be a much more expanded area to be able to showcase firearms than before,” Crooks said. “Here, guns are obviously tethered and you cannot take them off the wall, but you’re able to go and actually touch a gun.”
Crooks said Freedom does not yet have an anticipated timeline for opening. Thomas declined to share renovation costs for the project.
Freedom is getting some products for the Richmond range from Provo, Utah-based Action Target. Most of the renovations will be done internally by the Freedom team, Thomas said, though it has hired Richmond-based Slocum Painting.
Freedom offers a $43.95 monthly range membership and a $63.95 monthly premier membership. A premier membership offers perks such as discounts on training courses and merchandise. Military and law enforcement members get a $5 discount on monthly memberships.
Freedom membership will extend to the new Richmond location and across all four of its locations.
The Richmond location will have about 50 employees, Thomas said. The company has around 245 employees total.
Thomas said that Freedom intends to open another location in Virginia but declined to specify where.
Jamie Galanti of Commonwealth Commercial handled the sale of the Broad Street building. The structure and its 2.6-acre parcel were most recently assessed by Henrico County at $5.97 million.
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I’m glad to see this location be put to use again. Hopefully Freedom will do more for sound suppression based on the neighborhood’s feedback, though.
Glad to hear another shooting range is taking over this space! The demand for shooting enthusiasts in the area is strong! We look forward to supporting and utilizing the range soon! Congratulations to the Freedom team!
Needless to say, this is the perfect use for the building.
I am glad to see that they found a buyer. My former architecture firm designed the facility back in 2010-2011. I spent many an hour in there at the time!
I like Green Top but not the drive up there. Happy to see this facility coming back.