Project gets incentives

Avondale has offered a developer $800,000 in incentives to build a giant entertainment center that includes bowling, billiards, an arcade, laser tag, a ropes course and a restaurant.

Avondale officials say the center is worth the investment because it would increase revenues and property values, spur further development on the site and create 100 to 125 fulland part-time jobs after it is completed.

City leaders say the center would not be built without the incentives, but other metro Phoenix cities with similar projects paid either no incentives or considerably less than Avondale. An expert says that the incentives may be high but that the city has some protection if the developer doesn’t perform as promised.

The 58,000-square-foot, $7 million Main Event Family Entertainment Center would anchor a 40-acre development between 103rd and 107th avenues south of McDowell Road, north of Interstate 10. The incentive package was part of an economic-development agreement with developer Gun Bo Park that was recently approved by the Avondale City Council and which is set to be finalized next week.

Park owns Portland, Ore.-based Gunbo LLC, a limited liability company doing business as Parkland Development. The facility, which would sit on 6.7 acres, would provide an entertainment venue for the southwest Valley and increase the city’s visibility along I-10.

The center is projected to be similar to Main Event Entertainment LP in San Antonio. Main Event Entertainment, based in Plano, Texas, has 12 centers in that state. Tempe will have the first Main Event Entertainment center in Arizona, with Avondale having the second. The center will have 26 bowling lanes, about a dozen pool tables and about 3,700 square feet of space for laser tag as well as meeting and party rooms.

The agreement’s incentives are a mix of tax rebates and a payment for upgrading roads and utilities near the site.