Gymnastic Joe’s Set To Open
MALLS LOOK TO NONTRADITIONAL VENTURES TO FILL SPACE
Sunday, November 15, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE — A sign hanging over the concession stand states “Welcome to Malco Theatres. Serving Northwest Arkansas since 1948. Thank you for your support.”
Soon, those words will change to welcome people to Fayetteville’s newest tumbling and event center.
Malco Theater’s Mall Twin was a staple for 37 years in Fayetteville’s Northwest Arkansas Mall. The theater’s days were numbered in October 2007 when Malco opened a stadium-seating Razorback Cinema at the corner of Joyce and Steele boulevards.
The Mall Twin ran its last movie in June and 6,660 square feet of mall space was available.
That’s where Joe Garrett, owner of Gymnastics Joe’s - Arkansas Airborne Cheer enters the story. He said one of the mall owners, Sam Mathias, approached him about leasing the space. The Northwest Arkansas Mall is owned by Midwest Mall Properties LLC. Mathias of Springdale, Doyle Rogers of Batesville and John Flake of Little Rock closed the deal on the local mall on Dec. 29, 2006.
At first Garrett said he was reluctant about opening another studio. He already had two locations - in Springdale and Bentonville - and hadn’t thought about expanding.
But he said he began envisioning great things for the space and signed a 10-year lease.
“I wish I would have signed a longer lease,” Garrett said. “This is going to be great.”
He incorporated his business in 2004 which now has 21 employees.
Not The Norm
Nontraditional occupants like government offices, churches, libraries and medical off ces are moving into malls to keep occupancy levels up and increase foot traff c.
Mike Poldiak, general manager of the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg, Va., knows the advantages of such thinking.
Two years ago, New River Community College had about 24,000 square feet in the mall that was occupied by a theater. The community college has approximately 1,500 students and teaches more than 100 courses.
“It’s working great,” Poldiak said. “It has increased mall traff c. It’s been a win-win situation.”
The Christiansburg mall is in a suburban area, close to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
“My advice (to mall owners) is to keep an open mind. You never know who will approach you with an idea that may sound strange, but may work out great,” Poldiak said.
Jeft Bishop, Northwest Arkansas Mall senior property manager, hopes to see more foot traffic once Garrett opens his new venture Monday. Garrett said he already hosted a few private events in the space.
“We fully expect that Joe’s will drive up traffc in the mall. That is absolutely our demographic,” Bishop said, referring to families. “Now after training, people will have a place to go rather than just going home.”
The Northwest Arkansas Mall has another nontraditional tenant, local CBS television aff liate KFSM Channel 5, which has more than 6,000 square feet.
“There are always advantages when you have that kind of relationship with the media. We have partnered with KFSM for many events over the years,” Bishop said. The most visible is the annual Labor Day Telethon.
Pete Compton, a real estate economist in Boston with Property and Portfolio Research, said malls are finding other ways to fill space. But he added that seasonal and pop-up stores are a short-term solution to the occupancy problem.
Bishop said the Northwest Arkansas Mall has between 92 percent and 93 percent occupancy. “We would, of course, liketo fill the rest of our space,” he said.
Most of the 20,000 square feet available is geared to retail or restaurants.
Gymnastic Joe’s
Location was a big bonus in adding a third location, Garrett said. “Everyone knows where the mall is.”
Garrett said the mall also has plenty of parking and security, with the Fayetteville Police Department off ce there in addition to mall security.
“Parents can feel safe leaving their kids at this location,” he said.
Garrett also said there was interest in a Fayetteville location and he already has 60 children enrolled in classes.
Garrett got the space in July and created two distinct spaces: A multi-purpose room to host everything from dance classes to wedding parties and a tumbling room. Before work could really get going on the transformation, the inclined floors from the space’s theater days needed to be evened out. Concrete Services did the majority of the work in 2 1 /2 weeks.
The tumbling room is covered with a spring fl oor, two in-ground trampolines and a 6-foot deep foam pit for children to tumble into.
Garrett got involved in gymnastics while attending Central Michigan University and the gymnastics coach asked him to help vaulters build up speed on the runway.
“A lot of coaches start at the club level and move to the collegiate level. I did it the opposite way,” Garrett said. “It is very rewarding.”
Garrett traveled to Northwest Arkansas in 1996 to train as a sprinter for the Olympics. Although he didn’t make the team and was only supposed to spend five months here, he said he fell in love with the area.
Garrett said he liked themall space and didn’t want to completely change the look and feel of the old theater.
He purchased and plans on using all the concession equipment from Malco.
They also textured the wall paneling, left the black curtain hanging over the concession area and the red curtain still covers the movie screen in the multipurpose room. Even the tiling behind the water fountain is original.
“We are booked until April,” he said. “We even already have two wedding receptions scheduled.”
The multipurpose room can seat 220 people and since he left up the movie screen, it can be used for events from Power Point presentations to Xbox tournaments.
Even the old reel room has been put to use. A narrow spiral staircase takes workers to the “Skybox,” the company’s office which iscomplete with large observation windows.
It’s upstairs that Janay Banks, an employee of Gymnastic Joe’s - Arkansas Airborne Cheer, calls her work home.
She is credited with designing new outfits for the competitive cheer team. She also handles scheduling and other details.
“I’m the visionary; Janay takes care of the details,” Garrett said.
News, Pages 22 on 11/15/2009
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