The $5 million project announced last week is spearheaded by Jonah Sandler of Warren County who owns Chaos Room gaming center in Centerville.
The 29-year-old also owns Putters Par-adise miniature golf course in Englewood. Both are successful ventures, he said.
Sandler returned to the Dayton area in 2009 after graduating with a master’s of business administration from the University of Chicago. He saw a “significant void” in the market’s entertainment offerings that he hopes Scene75 will fill.
“I felt that particularly the younger generation needed a place of this nature if this city is to retain and develop local talent and keep them in the area,” Sandler said.
The 124,000-square-foot entertainment center at 6196 Poe Ave. will employ more than 100 people.
The facility will include an indoor electric go-kart track, multisensory 4-D theater, laser tag arena, video gaming theaters, outdoor sand volleyball courts and other attractions.
Scene75 will “rate with some of the top family entertainment centers in the country” in terms of scale, said Tony Shamma, vice president of sales for American Vending Sales, an Illinois-based distributor of amusement and gaming machines.
“They are going to bring tremendous value and entertainment to that market that I think they’ve never seen before,” he said.
In comparison, the Dave & Buster’s entertainment complex in Springdale is about 65,000 square feet.
Sandler started his own company, Quixotic Entertainment Group, to focus on entertainment and make the most of real estate within the Dayton market, “particularly vacant buildings that my family, friends or perhaps other investors that are supporting me are involved in,” he said.
His family and their investor group, Unified Developers Group of West Carrollton, helped redevelop the Brown Street area and the Van Buren Shopping Center in Kettering, among other sites.
Sandler will lease the former Roberds furniture warehouse and showroom property near the Benchwood-Wyse Road exit off Interstate 75 from a group of owners that includes family members and their investment partners.
No public funding is being used in the project, which is expected to open in April, he said.
Tank’s co-owner and general manager Jim “Radar” Martin praised Sandler as “an extremely smart businessman.”
Martin will manage Scene75’s 5,500-square-foot restaurant and two indoor bars. The restaurant will seat about 175 and employ 35 to 40 people, he said.
Brad Neal, franchise owner of the Super Subby’s on South Main Street in downtown Dayton, is investing more than $250,000 with partner Blake Moyer to operate Scene75’s bouncing arenas.
“We see this as being something the Dayton area really needs,” Neal said.
Neal said the facility’s high-visibility location off I-75 will allow it to draw people from Miamisburg to Troy, and provide an entertainment option for the thousands of families who visit the region annually for soccer tournaments.
Dennis Sites, a local racing enthusiast and owner of Commercial Roofing Services Inc., will operate Scene75’s 32,000-square-foot go-kart track with two partners.
“Right from the get-go I thought that it was a great idea. ... I saw it as a very good opportunity for myself and my family,” Sites said.
Sandler plans to market Scene75 to the Miller Lane hotels, as well as area companies, churches and youth groups. He expects birthday and company parties to be a large part of his business.
Scene75’s website will launch in late February and include an online application section for hiring staff.
“What it comes down to is having a venue that is at the forefront of people’s minds when they think, ‘What should we do tonight?’ I want Scene75 to be that place, the No. 1 destination for people within 75 miles of the area,” Sandler said.
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