Indoor trampoline park Sky Zone coming to White Plains
Dodgeball leagues, foam pits and a few surprises to add a new dimension to fitness
A Sky Zone indoor trampoline park is coming to White Plains and the local franchise holder can’t wait to open the doors to healthy fun.
“We’re hoping to be open by August,” franchise owner Paul V. Facchina, Jr. of La Plata said. “That’s our goal; but no later than September.”
“I want August. I’d like for us to be jumping right now,” general manager Fredrick Curry of La Plata said.
The two, who first met while playing peewee football as kids, have been working feverishly since last fall to get everything in place. Extensive renovation is underway at the current Flooring America building at 4390 Crain Highway where the two businesses will coexist. The flooring business will move to a different part of the large building and Sky Zone will take up the remaining 28,000 square feet.
“You’ve got your main court, your foam zone (a pit filled with 10,000 foam cubes to jump into) and dodgeball courts. I don’t want to talk about these right here,” Facchina said pointing to a couple of spots on the architectural drawings, “because this is top secret stuff. This one right here is going to be amazing. I just don’t want to talk about it. I want it to be a surprise. That’s going to bring a lot of people in here.”
He said he envisions setting up moms-with-tots programs as well as “sky aerobics” and trampoline dodgeball leagues, which he characterized as “the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”
“Sky Zone is all about physical fitness,” he said. “This is about being active. Other than the pizza, ever ything’s relatively healthy. It’s about a healthy lifestyle.”
The pizza will be part of the food and drink offerings at the “Fuel Zone” just inside the check-in area. There will also be a quiet lounge with video monitors with feeds from cameras in the trampoline area so parents can keep an eye on their children.
“I hear the pizza’s good. I told them, hey I’m Italian if the pizza isn’t good we’ll have to get that straight right there,” Facchina said with a laugh.
Facchina’s franchise license includes Charles and St. Mary’s counties as well as southern Prince George’s County. He said Calvert County is part of the Annapolis franchise area. “They are welcome here in Charles County,” Curry quickly added about Calvert residents looking for a trampoline workout.
Facchina grew up in the southern end of the county and worked with his father after he started Facchina Construction in 1987.
“My father sold [Facchina Construction] a couple of years ago,” he said. “In January 2015 the new regime fired me. Twenty-seven years of working there and being in the community, I was let go.”
He started a construction consulting firm, Vincenzo Development, right after that but also received an offer for a high level executive position with a large construction company based in New York, an offer he decided to turn down “because it didn’t feel right.”
“Three weeks later my wife had my son, at 9 years old, booked at Sky Zone in Columbia,” he said. “We all went up to Columbia and I walked in and I was blown away.”
He quickly contacted the Sky Zone and late last year, after a thorough interview and vetting process, he became one of the latest franchise holders and began looking for a suitable location and securing the necessary permitting.
“I was born and raised in Southern Maryland,” he said. “I love the community and we don’t have a venue like this.”
“I think White Plains has been looking for an attraction and has tried to have several attractions here in the past and it hasn’t happened,” Curry added. “You can’t not hit with Sky Zone.”
Along with the organized programs such as aerobics and dodgeball, people can book trampoline time as well as book birthday and corporate parties. Facchina is planning four party rooms.
“You basically buy a time. It’s not like an amusement park where people come in and you can have all these big lines,” Facchina said. “You actually by a time so you have an hour, hour and a half, two hours to do what you want. The capacity is about 170, 180. They’re going to be here an hour or so and then roll out.”
“We can have some bachelor parties and some bachelorette parties,” Curry added. “We’ll keep it clean. This is fun for young and old.”
Facchina expects the new business to dovetail with his philanthropy work mentoring young people and giving back to the community that he grew up in.
“My goal is to make this the most positive, profound impact on the community that we can do,” he said. “Everybody has embraced it and has helped get it off the ground.”
“It’s exciting,” said Cindy Hall of Flooring America. “Everybody hears it’s going to be Sky Zone and they ask ‘Really, here?’”
“Most importantly, Sky Zone will give the entire Southern Maryland community a place to have amazing wholesome family fun,” Facchina said. “The dodgeball league is going to be off the charts.”