COMING SOON?—Known as a playground for the over-21 crowd, Dave & Buster’s may open a location in Thousand Oaks.
Thousand Oaks has its fair share of playgrounds for children. Now it’s time (maybe) for the adults to get theirs.
Dave & Buster’s, an arcade-themed American restaurant that serves beer alongside skee-ball, is slated to fill the retail space left empty by Sports Authority on Hillcrest Drive in the Sears building next to Janss Marketplace.
Haider Alawami, City of Thousand Oaks economic development manager, told the Acorn this week that the Dallas-based chain, which has 84 locations throughout the U.S., has already signed a lease for the location, which is owned by Seritage Growth Properties.
THE RUMORS ARE TRUE—The wound left when a proposed bowling alley/arcade/bar failed to open at Janss Marketplace could be soon healed. Dave & Buster’s has signed a lease to open at the vacant Sports Authority building on Hillcrest Drive. The project still needs final approval from the city, which has yet to receive official plans.
“My understanding is that the lease has been signed,” he said. “They need to come to the city and talk about the specifics of the design and layout. It’s in the preliminary stages.”
Sears created Seritage in 2015 in an effort to separate its real estate holdings from its struggling retail operations. Since then, it has begun redevelopment of 48 of its 266 properties.
Representatives from Seritage did not return multiple calls seeking comment.
Sandy Sigal, president of Newmark Merrill, which owns the neighboring Janss mall, said in an interview that residents in Thousand Oaks were hungry for a wider variety of amusement and leisure activities.
“Entertainment is a key word to add to the reasons that people come to our shopping centers,” he said. “(If the Dave & Buster’s deal goes through) they would represent yet another reason people would and should go to Janss.”
Although the policy varies by location, in general, persons under the age of 18 cannot enter a D&B’s without an adult guardian who is at least 25, according to the company’s website. Each guardian may bring no more than six underage persons into the premises, the website says.
But don’t fill up your Dave & Buster’s Power Card quite yet.
Alawami said that, in addition to approval from city planners, operators would need a liquor license from the state and a special-use permit from the planning commission to allow the consumption of alcohol on the premises.
The nearest Dave & Buster’s is in Hollywood.