Sky Park Adventure LLC plans to open a 38,000 square foot indoor amusement center at the southeast corner of Garland Road and Centerville Road. An application for a Specific Use Permit ( SUP) has been filed with the City. Sky Park will lease the building from owner Dominus Commercial.
The amusement center will be in the vacant building adjacent to the existing Extra Space Storage location. The application states the facility will include trampolines, soft play jungle gym, bumper cars, laser tag, pickleball courts, video game machines and a small kitchen to serve drinks, pizzas and snacks.
The Sky Park venture is led by Kyle Bickham, owner of The Modern Tot, the well-respected day care operating across Garland Road from the proposed amusement center.
“We have been taking my 5-year-old and my 9-year-old sons to Kid’s Empire in Mesquite and Altitude in Richardson,” Bickham said. “At the same time, I have been staring at the vacant space across the street from Modern Tot.”
“I have a passion for business and find joy in serving families of young children,” Bickham said. “We had been looking for the right site to open other Modern Tot locations but pivoted to this idea.”
The current zoning of the site is Planned District Development #7 (PD7). An indoor amusement center is specifically called out as an accepted use in PD7 with the granting of a SUP. All SUP’s are heard first by the City Plan Commission and then forwarded with a recommendation to the full City Council. Hearings will be held at both venues for public input. No date has currently has been scheduled for the Plan Commission. Given the backlog of zoning cases at City Hall, Rob Baldwin, Sky Park’s zoning consultant, estimates the case will be on a February or March agenda.
After the SUP process and then interior construction, Bickham is targeting a February 2025 opening.
Sky Park is asking for a five-year initial term of the SUP with automatic five-year renewals if Sky Park meets certain requirements for filing the renewal. Operating hours would be 9 AM – 11 PM. Outside speakers would be prohibited.
The proposed amusement center is also across Garland Road from Shoreline Church, site of a contentious zoning battle last year where many Lochwood neighbors opposed the demolition of the church for a four-story mixed-use project.
“I think to many people the indoor amusement center sounds like a good addition to our area,” said Thomas Buck, communication chair for the Lochwood Neighborhood Association. “I want to learn as much about it as possible before fully backing it. Hopefully, there will be renderings to share.”
