Plan for CT arcade and entertainment center expanding with ax throwing, bowling, movies and more

The Westchester County commercial property manager that is carving out an arcade and entertainment center in part of the former multiplex theater on Hartford’s New Park Avenue is planning now intends to use even more of the space for its District Social operation.

Diamond Companies announced in 2022 that it would use five of the building’s 17 theaters for arcade games, axe throwing, entertainment and a bar. This spring, the company said it’s expanding that plan to cover eight theaters instead of just five.

The multiplex at 330 New Park Ave. in the Parkville section had operated under the Crown and Bow Tie brands before Apple Cinemas Xtreme took over the lease in 2020.

But the pandemic was brutal on the moviehouse industry, and Diamond, the property owner, two years ago announced it was going to leave Apple with 12 screening rooms while remodeling the other five as a new entertainment venue.

Even that may have been optimistic about the movie business, however: Apple is now scaling back to just eight theaters.

“They had made a decision to downsize. They’ll have half the building, we’ll have the other half,” said Tyler Simone, senior project manager with Diamond.

“We’ve expanded our plan with the city to take over eight theaters. The space will be split between arcades, ax throwing, bowling and more,” Simone said.

Hartford’s District Social venue is likely to open early in 2025, according to Simone.

“Right now we just received our special permits for the revised plan, then we’re going in for demolition permits to get some of the work started. We’ll finalize the design and submit a request for building permits probably in a month,” he said.

The District Social concept is to have a bar with plenty of connected entertainment option, ranging from an ax-throwing facility and mini-golf to an arcade with prizes to several smaller-than-usual bowling lanes. District Social already operates in Carmel, N.Y. and is similar to Diamond’s chain of Spins Bowl outlets.

The Spins Bowl line has New York outlets in Carmel, Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls, along with three others in Ohio, four in Michigan and one in Pennsyvania.

“Diamond Hospitality Group runs family entertainment centers throughout the Northeast,” Simone said.

Diamond bought the theater only a couple of years before the pandemic, and was already looking to de-emphasize the movie screen part of the business in favor of a new-style entertainment complex with a bar and a massive fleet of redemption-style arcade games.

District Social will include an outdoor patio and the company is looking to have visits by a food truck.

Simone said the plan of District Social is to bolster Apple’s movie audiences. Both venues will attract people who could be good prospects for the other, he said.

City planners last month concluded that using roughly 26,000 square feet of the 74,000-square-foot theater building conforms to the city development plan’s goals of expanding outdoor dining options and making Hartford the live music capital of Connecticut.