(La Porte, IN) - The door has opened in La Porte for construction of a family fun center that would contain 33,000 square feet of space for arcade games, pinball machines and other things ranging from bowling to a restaurant/bar.
The La Porte Redevelopment Commission on Wednesday, July 31 unanimously approved an agreement for the proposed $10 million facility. Under the agreement, the developers would be given the 6.6 acre LPRC owned site at NewPorte Landing if they live up to what’s promised in areas like building appearance, quality construction and 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 La Porte 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 other areas without such a facility. He said the closest one like it to La Porte 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 hosts primarily volleyball tournaments attended by a thousand or more people for weekend regional competitions. He said the facility would be just across the street from people at tournaments wanting to do something between games.
The fun center would be on the former Dietrich Steel site behind Kroger. The huge building the company operated from was demolished about ten years ago as part of the city’s NewPorte Landing brownfield redevelopment project.
The family fun center plans were submitted by La Porte residents Ben Konowitz and Ryan Hart, who operate Full Tilt Arcade & Pinball on Fail Road on the city’s east side. The 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 with IDEM for declaring the property safe for reuse and the investors to acquire the property.
He 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 capable of being made safe through construction. Cook 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.
