LAPORTE — The door has opened in LaPorte for construction of a family fun center that would contain 33,000 square feet of space for arcade games, pinball machines and other attractions ranging from bowling to a restaurant and bar.
The LaPorte Redevelopment Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved an agreement for the proposed $10 million facility.
Under the agreement, the developers would be given the 6.6 acre city-owned site at NewPorte Landing if they live up to what’s promised in areas like building appearance, quality of construction and activity offerings.
The fun center must also operate for at least four years.
“If they do everything they said they are going to do, then ultimately they wouldn’t pay anything for the land,” said LaPorte Economic Advancement Partnership Executive Director Bert Cook.
He estimated the value of the ground at well over $1 million because of the residential and commercial developments that have gone up in a former industrial area very close the site in recent years.
More specifically, amenities at the fun center would include 100 arcade games, 40 pinball machines, 12 bowling lanes, outdoor and indoor miniature golf, a laser tag course and virtual darts.
Cook said he believes the payback would be having a potential major destination spot for people from places without such a facility.
He said the closest one like it would be Zhao Island in Valparaiso and a few other similar facilities in Lake County.
“It’s something unique that many other communities don’t have,” he said.
He said the fun center would also draw from Dunes Events Center, which primarily hosts volleyball tournaments attended by a thousand or more people for weekend regional competitions.
He said the facility would be just across the street from tournaments and offer attendees something to do between matches.
The fun center would be on the former Dietrich Steel site behind Kroger. The huge building the company operated from was demolished about 10 years ago as part of the city’s NewPorte Landing brownfield redevelopment project.
The family fun center plans were submitted by LaPorte residents Ben Konowitz and Ryan Hart, who operate Full Tilt Arcade & Pinball on Fail Road on the city’s east side.
That arcade, which is just a fraction of the size of the proposed new facility, opened in October of 2022.
Cook said he expects construction to being sometime next year. It can’t begin right away because of the process that must be followed through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to declare the property safe for reuse and for the investors to acquire the property.
Cook said the developers will own the ground under the land gift agreement, but failure to live up to the terms will mean them having to pay for it.
Cook said an already-conducted environmental assessment of the site found just a limited number of issues in the soil.
He said concrete over contaminated dirt, for example, is a way of preventing human contact in areas with tainted soil.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the project. I think there’s no doubt this will become a location that serves a much wider market than just LaPorte,” he said.
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