Immersive Entertainment Venue Coming to North Loop | TCB

Minneapolis-based Entourage Events Group hopes an unusual event venue will breathe new life into a “dead zone” in the North Loop.

On Thursday, the company announced plans to open a new “immersive entertainment” event venue in a building at 501 Royalston Ave. Dubbed “Royalston Square,” the venue will use projection mapping technology and sound design to create wall-to-wall scenes for small events. The tech is similar to augmented reality tools.

Entourage CEO Steve Hark said there are not many event spaces quite like this in the country. In promotional materials released Tuesday, the company drew comparisons to The Sphere in Las Vegas, a massive, 20,000-capacity arena. “This will be one of very event spaces in the country that has this technology for clients walking in the door,” Hark said in a Thursday interview with TCB.

But he also acknowledged that Royalston Square will be significantly smaller than the Vegas venue: To start, Entourage is targeting events with just around 150 attendees, though Hark said the space is scalable and can grow as needed.

A news release issued Tuesday said the space can be transformed into anything from a rainforest to the streets of Tokyo. Hark said he hopes the space will draw in corporate and nonprofit clients. He said the new space will be marketed to pretty much anyone looking to hold a private event – weddings, galas, off-site meetings, etc.

“Minneapolis has not seen the best traffic of meetings and conferences in the last few years,” Hark said. “I think adding a venue like that will just help market the city. We’re based here and have a lot invested here. We’d like to see that come back.”

The entire site at 501 Royalston spans 135,000 square feet, but the Square won’t occupy all of it. The site was most recently used by Target Corp. as a photo studio, Hark said. According to Hennepin County property records, the structure was first built in 1964 and had an estimated market value of over $5.76 million as of January 2023.

Hark is well aware of potential challenges with the site, but he only sees opportunity. He sees it as a way of connecting Target Field and other livelier areas to the neighborhood.

“That neighborhood is dark, and it’s not frequented by a lot of people,” he said. “But by putting a pretty active, well-lit space there, I think it will change and bring in positive traffic to the area. I think it can only help it.”

Royalston Square is slated to open in the last week of October, though Hark plans to demo the space for future clients ahead of time. “Describing it is not the same as seeing it in person,” Hark said of the space. “We’re excited. I think this is great added value to the city overall.”