Something Brea has been lacking for quite a while are more fun places for kids to go and have fun instead of sitting around glued to their phones or tablets. Well, that soon may be changing.
Main Event Entertainment, a family friendly entertainment venue owned by Dave and Buster’s, is taking over the former Regal Edwards Theatre in Brea Downtown, currently the home of The Father’s House OC church.
The church had occupied that spot for a few years, but their lease ends in August, said Mayor Blair Stewart. So they are now searching for a new home. We hope they find it soon.
At the May 13 Brea Planning Commission meeting, Main Event Entertainment was granted a conditional use permit, or CUP, to be allowed to serve beer, wine and distilled spirits in their restaurant, establish a sign program and make other improvements to transform the property into an entertainment center.
It will feature bowling, laser tag, an arcade, billiards, virtual reality, escapes rooms, gravity ropes and lots more, plus a restaurant.
It should be a great spot for kids’ birthday parties and, according to their website, also school parties and corporate team-building events.
Main Event Entertainment has 58 locations in 20 states, and the coming Brea location will be the fifth for California.
Sounds like an exciting addition to Brea Downtown, and they expect to open sometime next year.
Across town, Sky Zone Trampoline Park is planning on jumping into the former Von’s Market site at Brea Boulevard and Central Avenue. While it is not yet official, it should be soon, according to Mike Revak, Sky Zone’s chief operating officer. He also noted that they have 35 trampoline parks in California and over 265 in North America.
“We are currently in the design phase,” said Revak, “Permit applications and other actions will begin soon.”
Sky Zone will make tremendous changes to the Von’s site, but may disappoint people living nearby who were hoping for another market. The property owners, however, made the decision to go with an entertainment venue instead of a market. That center’s current zoning allows a venue like Sky Zone to move in.
Maybe Sky Zone’s popularity will bring more people to the center who will also patronize the center’s other businesses.
So what will Sky Zone offer? A lot. The 23,000-square-foot location will feature plenty of action-packed fun with trapeze swings, a zip line, free-style jumps, ultimate dodge ball, something called the Drop Zone, a Sky Slam and other challenging, fun feats. Lots of foam blocks mean safe, soft landings from those sky jumps, swings and romping around.
It will be a great place for birthday parties and special events that Revak says will be filled with action-packed adventures.
Sky Zone’s main appeal is for families with kids 2 to 12 years old, but older siblings are also welcome. A lot of the high swings and zip lines and sky jumps will surely appeal to teens.
They will also have special activities for tots, or Little Leapers as they call them. Toned down activities designed for youngsters with special needs are also offered during sensory hours.
One rule everyone must follow at Sky Zone is that you must wear socks. No shoes or bare feet allowed. They don’t want all the soft blocks and cushy surfaces torn by shoes. Wear your own socks or buy their Sky Zone socks.
The same socks-only rule applies at Little Elephant, the indoor spongy play place for babies and tots, located by Embassy Suites.
So it looks like there are a lot of fun places coming to Brea, including a 15,620-square-foot Barnes & Noble bookstore, opening Oct. 29 in the Brea Plaza, according to Waad Nadhir of BOSC Realty Advisors, owners of Brea Plaza. Maybe it too will mean less time spent with noses in phones for kids.
Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at daxoncomm@gmail.com.
