The owners of Five Star Pizza in Palm Coast, Ormond Beach and Deltona are preparing to build a $2 million indoor playground and pizza restaurant in Bunnell, making it the first of its kind in Flagler County.
The playground will be called Party and Play and will be part of a 10,000-square-foot building that will be built on Steel Rail Drive in Bunnell, with projected construction starting in January or shortly thereafter. The project is going through its regulatory steps with the city. The business is expected to employ nine to 10 people and generate an annual payroll of $280,000, according to figures the owners submitted to the city.
“It will be what I call an event center, it’ll be a destination point,” says Bunnell City Manager Alvin Jackson.
On Monday, the Bunnell City Commission unanimously approved a $56,400 tax incentive package under its Business Incentive Grant for New Business program. The money will be repaid to the business in annual $8,000 installments over seven years, as long as the business meets its jobs and wage projections. The rebates would be considerably more than the tax revenue the property is currently generating, especially to Bunnell.
The owners, Denis Gotlib of Deltona and Jeffrey Kriesen of Palm Coast, operate a variety of corporations, among them Pizza Escape, Pizza Ninjas and 3245 Holdings LLC. In January 2022, Pizza Ninjas bought the 2.4-acre Bunnell property for $289,000. This year’s property tax bill totals $5,400, with just under $2,000 of that going to Bunnell. The value of the property is expected to increase, as will tax revenue, once the building is in place.
“Our county doesn’t have anything like that,” says Ella Gotlib, who manages the finances and other aspects of the family’s various businesses. Families now “have to drive to other counties, other cities” to have access to indoor playgrounds. Party and Play will have a 6,000-square-foot playground and two party rooms, among other amenities. It will “a huge structure,” Gotlib said, the steel building rising four stories high and offering “wonderful activities for kids of all ages, including a toddler area with a sensory wall and its own playground.
Five Star Pizza, of course, will be offering its own incentives to encourage people to visit the playground, though the owners note in their application for the incentives that the restaurant at the playground will be “limited.”
“It’s about delivering happiness and a little but of relief for parents,” Gotlib said.
The location only appears at first glance to be out of the way. In fact, it is parallel to U.S. 1 and Palm Coast’s R Section, a short distance off of Otis Hunter Road. Located in denser areas or in proximity of residential neighborhoods, such playgrounds are more likely to draw complaints because of the music and noise associated with them. That won’t be an issue on Steel Rail Drive, which has more of an industrial feel.
The owners in their application are projecting that only 25 percent of their services will be delivered to customers outside of Bunnell. For the business’ sake, the figure is likely a tactical under-estimate to win the incentive package: like Flagler Beach, whose businesses depend in large part on Palm Coast’s customer base for viability, the business is not likely to thrive without drawing the bulk of its customers from Palm Coast.
Jackson presented the incentive proposal to the city commission in a brief presentation lasting all of 90 seconds. City commissioners had no questions. The item drew no public discussion. Just a unanimous vote.
Tuesday afternoon, shortly after this article initially published, the city issued Pizza Ninja’s site plan approval application at a coming meeting of the city’s planning board. That plan conflicted somewhat with some of the details presented to the commission on Monday: the square footage in the site plan is divided between the playground on one side of the building and a martial arts studio on the other.
HayRide says
And is by far the worst pizza out there
JimboXYZ says
Summary: Bunnell gets a Chuck-E-Cheese.
James says
Perhaps it’s just me, but is it prudent for these folks to spend two million on a pizza party playground in the middle of nowhere?
When Wawa has a pretty nice large pie for $11 and change.
Just eat’n… I mean say’n (at least before the Trump tariffs kick in).
Nikki says
I can’t wait to have a safe clean cool place to hold parties or just have a fun family day! I can’t stand the heat and this allows me to enjoy and play with the kids instead of sitting in the shade.
For those talking about more construction and the effects on the environment, I can say I know this property and it’s dry and bear. No animals will be harmed during this process.