Entertainment center work begins in South Meadows

An entertainment center that includes bowling lanes, banquet and party facilities for adults and children, a children's playland and a lounge is under construction at South Meadows Parkway and U.S. 395.

The 49,500-square-foot, two-story building is scheduled for opening next spring. Shaver Construction Inc. of Sparks is the general contractor.

The entertainment center, a project of Creekside at Gateway LLC, will include 24 bowling lanes on its main floor and another eight lanes with party rooms on its second floor.

But Wayne Baker, a principal in Reno-based Aspen Engineering who will oversee the business, says it's anything but a bowling alley.

"We want to overcome the stereotype of a bowling alley," he says. "This is an entertainment center."

Baker, who also is developing a 21-lane entertainment center with bowling facilities at Fernley, says upstairs banquet facilities at the south-Reno center will have the capacity to serve 350 at a sit-down dinner.

Along with private bowling lanes, the room will include billiard tables and a dance floor.

Along with the primary bowling facilities, the first floor will include a 40-foot-tall indoor playland for children and four rooms for children's parties.

Baker says the center's lounge designed by Anthony Smith Architecture of Reno is planned as an upscale meeting place for South Meadows professionals and residents.

Aloiau Architecture of Reno is the primary architect on the project, and Laurie West of the firm has led the interior design team.

Food facilities are designed by Vern Martin Design Associates of Reno, and landscape design is by Ted Peterson Landscape Architect of Reno.

Reno Engineering Corp. is the civil engineer on the project, structural engineering is by Ferrari Shields & Associates of Reno, Aspen Engineering is handling mechanical and plumbing engineering and Construction Design Services is the electrical engineer.

Jaffra Masad, whose Creekside at Gateway LLC is developing the project as a build-to-suit for the operating company, says the company believes the high-profile location at the heavily traveled interchange is important to the entertainment center's success.

The center will be built on 3.1 acres along Gateway Drive which will be extended south of South Meadows Parkway and east of Highway 395.

The entertainment center is projected to employ 35 to 50 full- and part-time workers when it opens.