CityPlace Strikes Deal With Upscale Bowling Alley

CityPlace is finalizing a deal to bring a high-end bowling alley to the center, in a bid to provide a greater variety of entertainment for customers, particularly families.
Bruce Frank, president and chief executive of Jupiter-based Frank Entertainment Companies, confirmed that his company will operate the bowling alley, known as Revolutions Entertainment. Frank said the 20-lane bowling alley will have a full restaurant, bar, game room, dance floor and bandstand, and have daytime leagues.
Plans are to open in late August or early September.
The 35,000-square-foot bowling alley also will provide another choice for CityPlace visitors looking for something to do besides sipping martinis at the center’s numerous bars and restaurants or watching a movie at Muvico Parisian 20.
In particular, the bowling alley will appeal to families, which Frank said is “the missing component” when it comes to entertainment offerings at CityPlace.
During the past couple of years, CityPlace officials have said their intent is to change the center’s focus from being a high-end shopping destination to one more focused on dining and entertainment.
Revolutions will be going into retail space on the west side of Rosemary Avenue, between Macy’s department store and the Publix Super Market . Several stores are located in that section but it is unclear where, or whether, they will be relocated.
Some CityPlace retailers privately said the bowling alley sounds interesting, but they expressed concern it would attract roving bands of youths and scare away well-heeled older customers. Similar complaints were voiced after CityPlace first opened in 2000. After periodic outcries from retailers and patrons, the city of West Palm Beach in 2007 instituted a teen curfew .
Frank acknowledged the concern about teens, but said Revolutions will emphasize safety. He said Revolutions will have valet parking and its own security.  A strict dress code and behavior policy also will be in place. Frank pledged to make the bowling alley a place “where every girl feels safe.”
However, unlike some other upscale bowling alley companies, such as California-based Lucky Strike, Revolutions will not ban patrons under the age of 21 in the evening.
Frank Entertainment is no stranger to family entertainment centers. The family-owned company started in 1906 in the movie theater business, and today operates 26 theaters along the U.S. East Coast.
In addition, Frank Entertainment will be building a movie theater and bowling alley at the Delray Marketplace, a lifestyle center that just broke ground west of Delray Beach. Frank Entertainment has one other upscale Revolutions bowling alley, in Murrells Inlet, S.C.
Richard Lackey, a Palm Beach Gardens retail and restaurant broker, said the bowling alley will fill a niche and bring in new customers, especially during daytime hours.
“It gives you another alternative when you go to CityPlace and is a reason to stay there longer, ” Lackey said.
Source: Sun-Sentinel