Topgolf, the fast-growing high-tech sports entertainment company, plans to debut a new concept for dense areas in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland later this year.
The Dallas-based company today unveiled Topgolf Lounge, a combination of sports bar and virtual driving range, with the first location to open at the Kirkland Urban project that is under construction.
Google has been linked to the complex as either a tenant or buyer of office space for some time, though the company has yet to confirm the rumors. The search giant first arrived in Kirkland nearly 15 years ago and has since grown its Seattle-area footprint to more than 3,000 employees, including a huge new complex in Amazon’s backyard.
Also in Kirkland: Erik Anderson, executive chairman of Topgolf Entertainment Group. Anderson also runs a Kirkland-based investment firm called WestRiver Group.
“As a Seattle resident, I am the biggest advocate for having Topgolf in my backyard,” Anderson said at the GeekWire Sports Tech Summit in 2016. “We hope to make that dream a reality sometime in the next few years.”
Instead of the acres of land it takes to build out Topgolf’s traditional driving ranges, the Lounge concept features simulators. The 7,761-square-foot location will feature four public hitting bays and a private, VIP bay for events and “celebrity guests who are expected to frequent the Topgolf Lounge,” according to a press release on the new concept.
Topgolf says it has 53 venues across the U.S., serving more than 17 million guests annually. But the size of the facilities doesn’t work well in big cities with little available space. The company says it will expand the Topgolf Lounge concept, bringing it to areas where regular Topgolf locations aren’t feasible.
Topgolf has yet to open a location in the Seattle region, but it is looking at multiple areas for a new facility. GeekWire reported in December that Topgolf had its eye on a 14-acre parcel in Renton. The company declined to give an update on the Renton site. A few months earlier, Topgolf applied for a venue in Tacoma.
