Monday Q&A: Uptown guy

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Mark it, dude: A $21 million bowling and entertainment complex is on track to open in November.

When Uptown Alley opens, the 60,000-sqaure-foot, 40-lane bowling alley/entertainment complex will be one of the biggest indoor entertainment facilities in Virginia.

The man behind the project, Steve Uphoff, is getting geared up for the grand opening. It will be Uphoff’s second Uptown Alley location, and he has been working on the project at Commonwealth Center Parkway and Brad McNeer Parkway off Hull Street Road since he bought the land in January 2008.

Uphoff, who founded the Uppy’s convenience store chain, caught up with BizSense last week to give us an update on Uptown Alley and to talk about what’s next for his Uphoff Ventures, including a massive apartment project he has planned near VCU.

Richmond BizSense: How’s Uptown Alley coming along?

Steven Uphoff: We’re finishing phase one of two phases, and that is the entertainment complex portion. The second phase is going to be a hotel and some complementary businesses. It’s going to be awesome.

RBS: So you’re on track?

SU: Oh, yes. We just installed our 29-foot [rooftop bowling] pin last Monday, and it’s four inches below our maximum limit. Our contractor, Taylor & Parrish, has done a phenomenal job getting us in on budget and on time. They are on track to deliver it to us on Oct. 23. We’ll come in, do our training and open on Nov. 15.

RBS: You moved ahead on this in the middle of a bad recession. Was it hard to line up financing?

steveuphoff1SU: It was a challenge at first. I mean, you walk into a bank and say the words “real estate,” “development” and “entertainment facility” in the same sentence, and most of them will show you the door.

In fact, when we moved ahead with our Uptown Alley in Phoenix, one of the hardest-hit markets in the country, we had to pay cash for it. But they’ve seen what we’re doing out there, and they are paying attention. We’ve exceeded our expectations two times.

RBS: Did you finance the Chesterfield location?

SU: We did. We had to put in more equity than we would have liked. But we have a great relationship with Sonabank. They were quick to jump on and finance the construction. And Fulton Bank has the underlying real estate loan. Both banks have been great for us.

RBS: What’s your competition for Uptown Alley? Movie theaters?

SU: Actually, we like to be close to movie theaters. We complement each others’ businesses. Out in Chesterfield, we are near one of the best theaters in the area, Commonwealth 20.

Especially in the current economy, we’re seeing people chose more and more to stay close to home for their entertainment. People want entertainment close and at a reasonable price. I think we deliver that.

I think our competition is more the older bowling alleys, but I’m not sure they are even much competition, because we do so much more.

uptownalleyrenderingRBS: Who’s going to go to Uptown Alley?

SU: The demographics are amazing. We’ve got two restaurants, two bars, rooms for birthday parties, 40 lanes. Out in Phoenix, you should see it. We have groups of guys coming in to watch the Olympics, and soon they’ll be watching football. We have groups of women coming in and drinking martinis. We have kids.

It’s actually fun to see people migrating to various parts of the facility. We think it’s going to be very successful.

RBS: What’s next for you and Uphoff Ventures?

SU: We’ll be focusing on our apartment project at Belvidere and Grace in Richmond. We’ll be looking at other markets across the country for Uptown Alley. And we’re always looking for new projects right here in Virginia and the Richmond area.

uptownalley2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark it, dude: A $21 million bowling and entertainment complex is on track to open in November.

When Uptown Alley opens, the 60,000-sqaure-foot, 40-lane bowling alley/entertainment complex will be one of the biggest indoor entertainment facilities in Virginia.

The man behind the project, Steve Uphoff, is getting geared up for the grand opening. It will be Uphoff’s second Uptown Alley location, and he has been working on the project at Commonwealth Center Parkway and Brad McNeer Parkway off Hull Street Road since he bought the land in January 2008.

Uphoff, who founded the Uppy’s convenience store chain, caught up with BizSense last week to give us an update on Uptown Alley and to talk about what’s next for his Uphoff Ventures, including a massive apartment project he has planned near VCU.

Richmond BizSense: How’s Uptown Alley coming along?

Steven Uphoff: We’re finishing phase one of two phases, and that is the entertainment complex portion. The second phase is going to be a hotel and some complementary businesses. It’s going to be awesome.

RBS: So you’re on track?

SU: Oh, yes. We just installed our 29-foot [rooftop bowling] pin last Monday, and it’s four inches below our maximum limit. Our contractor, Taylor & Parrish, has done a phenomenal job getting us in on budget and on time. They are on track to deliver it to us on Oct. 23. We’ll come in, do our training and open on Nov. 15.

RBS: You moved ahead on this in the middle of a bad recession. Was it hard to line up financing?

steveuphoff1SU: It was a challenge at first. I mean, you walk into a bank and say the words “real estate,” “development” and “entertainment facility” in the same sentence, and most of them will show you the door.

In fact, when we moved ahead with our Uptown Alley in Phoenix, one of the hardest-hit markets in the country, we had to pay cash for it. But they’ve seen what we’re doing out there, and they are paying attention. We’ve exceeded our expectations two times.

RBS: Did you finance the Chesterfield location?

SU: We did. We had to put in more equity than we would have liked. But we have a great relationship with Sonabank. They were quick to jump on and finance the construction. And Fulton Bank has the underlying real estate loan. Both banks have been great for us.

RBS: What’s your competition for Uptown Alley? Movie theaters?

SU: Actually, we like to be close to movie theaters. We complement each others’ businesses. Out in Chesterfield, we are near one of the best theaters in the area, Commonwealth 20.

Especially in the current economy, we’re seeing people chose more and more to stay close to home for their entertainment. People want entertainment close and at a reasonable price. I think we deliver that.

I think our competition is more the older bowling alleys, but I’m not sure they are even much competition, because we do so much more.

uptownalleyrenderingRBS: Who’s going to go to Uptown Alley?

SU: The demographics are amazing. We’ve got two restaurants, two bars, rooms for birthday parties, 40 lanes. Out in Phoenix, you should see it. We have groups of guys coming in to watch the Olympics, and soon they’ll be watching football. We have groups of women coming in and drinking martinis. We have kids.

It’s actually fun to see people migrating to various parts of the facility. We think it’s going to be very successful.

RBS: What’s next for you and Uphoff Ventures?

SU: We’ll be focusing on our apartment project at Belvidere and Grace in Richmond. We’ll be looking at other markets across the country for Uptown Alley. And we’re always looking for new projects right here in Virginia and the Richmond area.

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Liz Fuhr Van Ness
Liz Fuhr Van Ness
11 years ago

Congrats to you Steve!

Randy Reynolds
Randy Reynolds
11 years ago

It takes guts to do this today! Great job! That’s what our economy needs more of.

Scott
Scott
11 years ago

I have been to Uptown in Phoenix (actually, it is in Surprise, Arizona). I live within walking distance of the center.

The place is amazing and the kids love it. Almost every weekend, there are people standing in line to get in as they are usually at capacity.

We were there just last night watching Monday Night Football and will be there all season!

Mike View
Mike View
11 years ago

Great job. The Uppy’s gas station operation is first class.
I’m sure this venture has been well thought-out and has a great chance of success. Best of luck.

My political rant:
Of course President Obama would say that “he didn’t build these businesses”….or create employment for all of these people. Good thing he wasn’t required to pay all of his earnings back in Fed. taxes. He wouldn’t have been able to self finance the Phoenix project or put more equity into this project. Both of which created jobs…..

Jerry Miles
Jerry Miles
11 years ago

Great idea, We here in North Louisiana have a 40 lane center that’s run down. Just resurfaced the lanes. Manual scoring. This center use to be great but with new owners and no idea of the bowling business it’s sad. We lose bowlers and leagues each year due to the customer owner relationship. I have been on the PBA tour, bowl, now , in as many tournaments as I can. A few of us travel 100 miles one way each week to bowl in a house the will let us practice our game for tournaments. being a USBC certified coach,… Read more »

Don Monroe
Don Monroe
11 years ago

“I think our competition is more the older bowling alleys, but I’m not sure they are even much competition, because we do so much more.” If you don’t know why, then you don’t know anything about bowling. Most of the cash comes from league bowling. Most bowlers bowl 2 or more leagues each, with an average of 5-person teams with 20 lanes per league. Most of them do not want to bowl on lanes that have candy and soda all over the lanes, where they may stick and fall. If the lanes are not maintained properly, you will lose them.… Read more »

Scott kent
Scott kent
11 years ago

Well,were do I start; I have been to uptown about 4 times in the past 2 weeks since you guys have opened. Let me say, great place and I have never experienced anything like it. I also like to commend you guys for building a great location in the commonwealth, it is great to see that even amongst a passive recession that people like yourself are willing to take a risk. I would however like to address some concerns. Everything has a grade of an A but the service from both the rotunda bar the upstairs bowling lanes have a… Read more »

Sheretta Jones
Sheretta Jones
11 years ago

A friend of mine and I visited your establishment back in early December and enjoyed it. He is a bowling coach for a college in Elizabeth City North Carolina and currently runs the bowling alley on campus which only has a few lanes but host parties and events for the school and sometimes the public. We had been in conversation about trying to do the exact same thing that you just mastered only in Elizabeth City NC. Had looked at land and everything. I live here in Richmond and as soon as I heard about the new bowling alley I… Read more »

Sheretta Jones
Sheretta Jones
11 years ago

Sorry I’d also like to add there is a fully running Aviation Coast Guard Base in Elizabeth City too. I know the town and and surrounding towns would love to have something like this for entertainment. The current bowling alley in the city does not serve food and is just a run of the mill bowling alley. We wanted to add a movie theater inside the bowling alley since the theater in the city has only two screens and most people still drive to VA to catch movies. Like I said something we’ve put our mind to to make happen… Read more »