Vancouver-based development company Kirkwood and Kirkwood was granted a conditional use permit Wednesday for its first Big Al's Inc. entertainment center in Beaverton.
The permit brings the company one step closer to expanding the presence of the family bowling alley and arcade in the Vancouver-Portland metro area.
The Kirkwood family opened its first Big Al's in Vancouver in 2006 and won the VBJ's Start-up of the Year award for it in 2007.
"We still expect a great performance in Beaverton," despite the economy, said Vice President Daniel Kirkwood. "We're looking forward to Beaverton because of the demographics. There are almost twice as many people in a five-mile radius, higher household incomes and a greater family population."
The Kirkwoods are applying for site development and building permits and hope to break ground by August, Kirkwood said. The company will act as its own general contractor on the $13 million project.
Big Al's will be located at the Progress Ridge Town Center development, which is in development now and where Kirkwood and Kirkwood is in the process of buying six acres. The purchase is expected to close by June 30, Kirkwood said.
Progress Ridge is slated to be complete by September 2010, Kirkwood said.
Tualatin-based Gramor Development will develop 14 acres there and has secured Portland-based New Seasons Market and Vancouver-based Cinetopia as anchors, Kirkwood said.
Along with Big Al's, Kirkwood and Kirkwood will develop the remainder of its six acres with commercial space for 21,000 square feet each of retail and office space.
Beaverton's West Village Shopping Center was the original site for the second Big Al's location, but Kirkwood said financing for that larger development was never put into place.
"With the combination of a stalled project at West Village and the opportunity to build it ourselves (at Progress Ridge), it was an easy decision," Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood continues to work on the Big Al's building design with Portland-based Scott Edwards Architecture. The 66,000-square-foot arcade will be 10 percent larger than the Vancouver site, with two stories, an expanded arcade and family dining area and a virtual golf and video gaming area.
Virtual golf, Kirkwood said, lets golfers in the rainy Northwest play with actual golf clubs and golf balls on simulated indoor courses.
The economy has put business down slightly at Big Al's in Vancouver, but he said there are still plans to add more locations.
"We just don't know where yet," Kirkwood said. "We would like to build several more of these."
