CLEVELAND, Ohio — A project to convert a former furniture store in Ohio City into an entertainment venue is moving forward, with key approvals secured.
The city’s landmarks commission and board of zoning appeals recently signed off on the proposal to convert the now-shuttered Daniels Furniture store at 1880-1890 West 25th St. into a Pins Mechanical Co./16-Bit Bar and Arcade.
The project will require exterior and interior renovations to turn the two-building property into an entertainment space featuring duckpin bowling and vintage arcade games, among other activities.
This rendering shows a Pins Mechanical Co. location in Cincinnati.
Real-estate developer Chad Kertesz’s My Place Group in June bought the property through an affiliated LLC for $2.3 million — a much higher price than the approximately $515,000 value the county assigns the property.
Both entertainment concepts are under the umbrella of Columbus-based Rise Brands, which operates locations in several cities, including Columbus, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Nashville and Indianapolis. Some are stand-alone locations, while more recently Rise has combined the two venues as it is doing with the Ohio City project.
Pins is new to the Cleveland market, while 16-Bit has a location in Lakewood that will remain open.
Pins will take up the larger, northern section of the property, next to ABC the Tavern. The two spaces will be connected.
A northern-facing view of the combined 16-Bit/Pins Mechanical location that is planned in Ohio City.
Although the venue will be a bar, it’s been described as family-friendly.
“They make the location open to families, whether it’s your grandparents or your kids, during the days and the weekends, to come in and take advantage of that nostalgic, historic experience that a lot of us grew up enjoying,” said Rico Pietro of Cushman & Wakefield/Cresco Real Estate, which represented the buyer in the property sale and handled the leasing.
Renovations will restore elements of the building — which spans about 18,000 usable square feet, across a basement and two floors — to the way it originally looked in the early 20th century.
Part of the first-level floor will be cut out so the basement, where the bowling lanes will be, will be visible. Customers will be able to slide down to the basement.
Outside, railing, bench seating and new signs will be installed.
The project required two zoning variances: one to allow the space to be used for entertainment, the other so that it did not have to include parking.
The goal is to open sometime this summer, Kertesz said.
“I think it’s going to be a great, different use for the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s a bar, but it’s much more than that.”
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