Plans announced for entertainment center

Plans Announced For Entertainment Center

CNHI News Service

By Randall Turk

Transcript Business Editor

Two Norman partners have announced plans to build and equip a $2 million family entertainment center to appeal to Norman and metro area residents.

Attorney Brad Little and soccer coach Geo Claros said "HeyDay Entertainment" will be built on a three acre tract west of I-35 and north of Indian Hill Road. The location is in Commerce Parkway, a business park planned by Norman developer Trey Bates.

The 13,000-square-foot entertainment center will have an arcade with video and redemption games, a large party room area and space for food service. More than half the center will be taken up by a two-level laser tag arena.

The building is designed by Norman architect Mark Krittenbrink. It will have distinguishing vertical and horizontal features to make it easily recognized by passing motorists, Little said.

"Kids complain of nothing to do in Norman," Little said. "But there's plenty of entertainment in larger cities like Dallas and Kansas City. Norman deserves quality entertainment like what we're planning."

Claros, who has coached youth soccer teams in Norman for several years, will be general manager of the center. "We've researched this concept for two years," he said. "We traveled to eight states and found vendors that are the best in the business." He said, for instance, the vendor for the laser tag equipment also serves game centers in New York City's Times Square and other major entertainment centers in Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston.

"We will be constantly reinvesting in equipment to ensure the HeyDay experience keeps getting better year after year," Claros said. The center will be staffed by over 20 part-time high school employees from Norman and Moore, he said, and an off-duty policeman will be employed at the center at night.

Plans for the entertainment center extend to outside venues, including a 36-hole miniature golf course with rolling terrain, streams, waterfalls and extensive landscaping.

Besides catering to daily traffic, the entertainment center will host such events as birthday parties, team parties and youth groups, Little said. He said the facility also will be reserved for business meetings, corporate team building and fundraising programs.

Bates said the HeyDay project will benefit from strong demographics by virtue of its accessibility from I-35 and Highway 77 and its proximity to the rest of the metro area. It will be built within about a mile of a new 23-screen movie theatre in Moore and a new Moore high school. He said HeyDay will be "a high quality destination attraction that will complement other upscale projects planned for Commerce Parkway."

Little, an attorney for the State of Oklahoma, has been actively involved in Norman youth programs. He said he has been working with two banks for the financing. Construction bids are expected to be let in about 30 days, he said, with completion expected by around late fall.