Testing app for resizer v2. The Topgolf Baltimore site is up for sale less than a year after it opened in South Baltimore’s budding entertainment district.
Situated among M&T Bank Stadium and Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, the property is listed at $59.3 million, according to Matthews Real Estate Investment Services. There are more than 19 years remaining on its initial 20-year lease, according to the listing. A new tenant would maintain “all aspects of the premises,” pay maintenance, taxes and insurance, and the landlord would have no other responsibilities, according to an offering memo prepared by the real estate service, which refers to Topgolf as an “ideal, management-free investment for a passive investor.”
The driving range allows individuals or groups to play high-tech target games and serves drinks and food. According to the listing memo, Topgolf is offering a corporately guaranteed lease with 10% rental increases every five years.
“It’s confirmed for sale. Can’t comment any further,” said Josh Ein, First Vice President of Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, who is handling the listing for the firm. The Baltimore Business Journal first reported the news of the listing.
In a Wednesday statement, representatives from Topgolf International, Inc. said the transaction is “unrelated” to the operations at the venue.
“The sale is simply a financial investment sale of the underlying long-term lease, and the future buyer will simply become the Topgolf venue’s landlord on the ground lease. This is a very typical transaction in the real estate industry where a long-term lease is transacted in the open market,” the statement said. “The buyer / new landlord would be obligated to honor all aspects of our existing ground lease.”
Topgolf Baltimore opened on Oct.ober 28, 2022, the first anchor of what’s now known as The Walk @ Warner Street. The entertainment district is meant to jump-start a holistic transformation in South Baltimore dreamed up by Caesars Entertainment when it proposed building Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, which opened in 2014. The area surrounding the football stadium, still mostly industrial and long considered by state and city officials to be underdeveloped, would be a host to gaming and entertainment facilities, which would help expand the regional tax base and pump more visitors and businesses into downtown.
Over the past 10 years, the Baltimore-based Caves Valley Partners joined Caesars and won the bid to revitalize the area and has been buying up the land. One of the parcels went to Topgolf, and another went to The Paramount Baltimore, which was set to open a nearly 3,800-seat music venue there this year. But the company behind The Paramount has faced legal and financial troubles and has suspended construction; a hearing is scheduled in the matter in late November.
Still, Caves Valley Partners’ Arthur Adler told a crowd last week that the concert venue is on track to open next year and will join an already successful concept catalyzed by Topgolf. He did not respond to questions from The Baltimore Banner about the status of the venue or the court case.
“Perhaps the most important thing was when we got the phone call about Topgolf. You know, Topgolf is perhaps the number one entertainment concept in the country right now,” Adler said during a panel discussion at a lecture series sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Committee. “Everybody wanted it.”
Topgolf asked for 11 acres, Adler recalled, and the team answered by allowing guests to park in the casino’s garage and moving the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter to Cherry Hill. The site sits on roughly seven 7 acres.
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“We built really the only urban Topgolf in the country,” Adler said. “We’re really the only one, and it’s a great venue and we’re really excited.”
The golfing facility has three levels and employs more than 500 associates. It features 90 outdoor hitting bays, a full-service restaurant and bar and event space for corporate and social events.
The 65,000-square-foot Baltimore site is the third in Maryland, following locations in Germantown and National Harbor. Other Topgolf sites, — including in Fort Myers, Florida, and Omaha, Nebraska —; also have been listed for sale this year.
This article may be updated.
