"We all know what was here 10 or 15 years ago, not a whole lot," Dr. Jerry Neidigh said at the ribbon-cutting for Grove Eye Care's new office at Regency, as Richmond BizSense reported in late September. He explained that when his broker first suggested the mall, his answer was, "What?" Then he moved the practice in anyway. It had been on Grove Avenue since the early 1970s.
His reason for coming around explains most of what has happened at Parham and Quioccasin. He had looked at about 40 other spaces, and in his words, "Most had less parking." The huge stores and the sea of parking that made Regency feel empty for years are now why businesses choose it. The new tenants need big rooms, and they need somewhere for their customers to park.
Regency had more space than shoppers
Look at where the new tenants actually are. Nearly all of them took over space that retail used to fill and that a new store would struggle to fill today.
| Regency tenant | Space it took over | Size reported |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Pickleball RVA | Ground floor of the former Macy's North | 41,000 sq ft, 12 indoor courts plus a warm-up court |
| NOVA Aquatics Center-Regency | Former Macy's South | 50-meter pool, two teaching pools, plus a 29,000 sq ft second-floor expansion |
| Monster Mini Golf | Space at the Quioccasin Road entrance | 10,400 sq ft |
| Grove Eye Care | Part of the old food court | 7,500 sq ft, 12 exam rooms |
| Tee Box | Part of the old food court, facing Quioccasin Road | Nearly 5,000 sq ft, four simulator bays |
A 50-meter pool with 1,000 spectator seats on the floor above it needs the footprint of a department store. So do a dozen pickleball courts. These businesses can't open in a strip-center bay, and they bring people back week after week for lessons, leagues and practice. That's the kind of traffic a mall used to get from shoppers.
Regency's owners, Thalhimer Realty Partners and Rebkee Co., say this is the plan. BizSense describes the multiyear redevelopment as a shift away from shopping toward experience-based businesses, turning the property into a mixed-use development with a mix of attractions. Surge Adventure Park was the first of these anchors, and NOVA and Performance Pickleball followed.
The food hall plan gave way to a doctor's office and a golf room
The old food court shows the strategy most clearly. Regency's owners once planned to turn it into a food hall, and BizSense reported in January 2025 that the owners were moving away from that plan. What actually opened there tells you which uses the building attracts on its own.
Tee Box went in first. The Utah-based chain of simulator golf venues opened its first Richmond-area location on Saturday, May 30, 2026, with four hitting bays, an interactive putting green and a golf-focused gym. It runs around the clock: members get in through an app at any hour, and a golf pro offers lessons, club fittings and club sales. BizSense reported that memberships cost $399 a month with a required annual commitment, and that about three dozen had sold before the doors opened. In the same article, franchisee Kai Laird said he picked Regency partly because of the sports-related and other nontraditional tenants already there.
Grove Eye Care opened next door in the last week of September. Its old office at 3601 Grove Ave. had four exam rooms. The Regency office has 12, along with an optical shop, and the practice expects to spend more than $1.7 million building out and equipping it. The rebuild of the food court also added an outdoor plaza and a new mall entrance.
That's a golf membership and an eye appointment in the space that once held a row of fast-food counters. Both bring people in on a schedule. A food court mostly depended on people who were already in the mall to shop.
How a cold-weather Saturday at Regency can play out
The tenants line up well for a day indoors. Plenty of Tuckahoe households have a winter afternoon to fill, and the building now has an option for most ages.
- Start with a pastry. C&P Baking Co. moved into a 1,200-square-foot shop at Regency this spring. It sells baked goods, coffee and sourdough, and it has a small seating area. It's open daily from the time the mall opens until 6 p.m. On Mondays it serves only coffee and cookies, and the full menu runs the rest of the week. Owner Pilley runs baking classes and workshops from the shop that range from $15 to $50, as BizSense reported in April.
- Book some courts or drop in. Performance Pickleball RVA has hourly court rentals and drop-in open play where you rotate in with new partners, plus leagues, round robins and tournaments. The club's events page lists its Monster Mashup for Saturday, Oct. 31, with a guaranteed $5,000 in prize money.
- Take the kids to the glow course. Monster Mini Golf has an 18-hole glow-in-the-dark course with animatronic monsters, an arcade, two party rooms and two lanes of duckpin bowling. In its February report, BizSense listed rounds at $11 to $14 and five frames of bowling at $5, citing the company's website. The venue doesn't serve food, but it allows catering and lets you bring your own food with some limits. Check current prices before you go.
- Watch the time. Monster's hours are noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. It has its own outside entrance at the Quioccasin Road side and another inside the mall.
- Finish with a hands-on project. Regency's directory lists Mini Makers RVA, which runs slime-making workshops, birthday parties and camps. Flow Zone RVA offers pour painting and resin art for solo visitors, families and groups.
Families with swimmers likely know NOVA already. The nonprofit, founded in 1987, offers swim lessons and a competitive youth team, and it has a second location on Gayton Road. Its new 180-person community room upstairs at Regency gives it space for events and gatherings. Older kids can try Surge Adventure Park for trampolines, dodgeball and an arcade, and BizSense listed Pelagos VR among Tee Box's neighbors as of May.
Some long-time tenants are still here too. R.S. Milan Menswear & Custom Tailors still sells suits and tuxedos at Regency and offers in-house tailoring, according to a June BizSense report, even as it opens a second store at Chesterfield Towne Center.
Next, the parking lot fills in
Parking is the other thing Regency has more of than it needs, and that's changing too. The first apartments on the property opened in 2022. The second phase, The Rise II, is a 314-unit building going up on a former parking lot between Starling Drive and The Rise. As of late May 2026, BizSense reported it was still under construction and that the mall property would soon have more than 600 homes.
That puts more neighbors within walking distance of the bakery, the courts and the pool. Grove Eye's owner pointed to those apartments, along with anchors like Performance Pickleball, as part of what changed his mind about the site.
For now, Regency's deals and events page just says to check back soon for sales and events. That leaves the Halloween pickleball tournament as the most specific thing on the property's fall calendar.
Regency has gone from empty storefronts to a full calendar in just a few years. If you're curious what all this activity near Parham and Quioccasin means for your own home, Simpson Realty Group is happy to walk through it with you. Request your free home valuation, and we'll give you a straight, local answer.
