Gilbert tapped for golf center
International developer TopGolf has selected Gilbert’s SanTan Village area for one of its high-end golf entertainment centers, where customers can smack microchipequipped balls into a target range from the comfort of airconditioned hitting bays.
Some describe the concept as a mix of golf and bowling, where players score points by hitting the ball into a target area while sharing drinks or food with friends between turns.
TopGolf plans to start construction on a 14-acre site near the southeastern corner of Santan Village Parkway and Ray Road in early 2014 and open before the end of the year, spokeswoman Adrienne Browne said in an e-mail.
The company also plans to open an entertainment center at Scottsdale’s Riverwalk by spring, and vertical construction on that facility is visible
‘‘ Gilbert has a fantastic reputation as a great place to live and to do business. It ... makes the perfect fit for TopGolf.”
TopGolf spokeswoman from Loop 101 near the highrise Talking Stick Resort.
The Gilbert location would be TopGolf’s second in Arizona, and a third is planned for metro Phoenix in two or three years, Browne said. As the company examined possible locations, Gilbert stood out as having the Valley’s best demographics, she said.
“Gilbert has a fantastic reputation as a great place to live and to do business,” Browne said. “It’s a thriving, growing community with strong demographics, a growing corporate base, and makes the perfect fit for TopGolf.”
Gilbert’s Design Review Board, which has aesthetic oversight of major development projects, reviewed preliminary construction plans at a study session on Nov. 14. The group could approve the designs as soon as January.
TopGolf was founded in London in 2000 and has opened or is developing 13 locations in the United Kingdom and U.S. Six of those sites are in Texas, and there is one each in Illinois, Virginia and Georgia.
Each entertainment center creates more than100 full-time jobs, including about 15 management positions and two or three golf professionals, according to the company’s website. Browne said each TopGolf facility can generate as many as 400 jobs, not including an estimated 260 jobs created during construction.
Worldwide, the privatelyheld company has more than 2,200 employees and boasted about 1.2 million visitors in
2012.
Pricing typically runs about $20 an hour per hitting bay during the morning hours and $40 an hour in the afternoon, according to the company’s website. As many as six players may share a bay.
The Gilbert location likely would feature a full-service restaurant and space for private events, according to a town memo.
TopGolf is among many new or planned additions to Gilbert’s central business corridor, which runs along Loop 202 on either side of SanTan Village mall.
The Design Review Board last month also reviewed plans for a four-story office building at Rivulon, a massive mixed- use project by Nationwide Realty Investors north of the Santan Freeway between Gilbert and Lindsay roads.
Ayear ago, the Gilbert Town Council approved a $35 million tax incentive to help kick-start development of the long-awaited complex, and the 130,000square-foot office building would be the first component to come to fruition.
The proposed office building is on the southwestern portion of the Rivulon property, near the Gilbert Road ramp to Loop 202. An LA Fitness health club also is in the works for property directly west of the offices.
Horne Kia, near Arizona Avenue and Baseline Road in Gilbert, has also submitted plans to the town for a new dealership in the Santan Motorplex, near Val Vista Drive and Pecos Road, giving the auto mall its eighth tenant.