Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190068
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Jane and Chuck Jones said Thursday their Fun Challenge playground, arcade and restaurant will be an enjoyable, safe place open to children ranging from toddlers to teens - and their parents or chaperones.
The Joneses say they are using a concept that's proved successful for a national chain, Discovery Zone Inc., and modifying it for the New River Valley.
The Fun Challenge center, to be located on Arbor Drive behind the Market Place shopping center, cleared its first hurdle Wednesday night when the Montgomery County Planning Commission recommended approval of a special-use permit to open an "amusement facility" on two acres behind the Wal-Mart store.
The permit will now go to the Board of Supervisors for a public hearing, probably in late September. The Joneses hope to open Fun Challenge, which will cater to New River Valley Mall and Market Place shoppers, by December.
The Joneses' independent business, to be marketed within a 50- to 60-mile radius of Christiansburg, will employ about 30 workers, mostly part-timers. The average start-up investment for a family entertainment center is $1 million; the Joneses are trying to stay below that.
"There's a lot of people that something like this would appeal to," said Jane Jones, a self-employed computer consultant. She is the daughter of Bill Matthews, a key figure in the on-going development of the area surrounding the New River Valley Mall. Matthews will own the building and land; the Joneses will own the business.
"There's nothing comparable that has everything under one roof in Southwest Virginia," said Chuck Jones, who is taking a leave from his football coaching job with Tulane University in New Orleans to help launch the enterprise.
Discovery Zone, whose majority owner is the video-rental king Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., is opening a similar business this fall in Roanoke paired with a music store. It will be the first in the region.
The Joneses say their business, at 20,000 square feet - about the size of a small department store - will be larger than a Discovery Zone FunCenter, which usually runs from 9,000 to 14,000 square feet. And it will feature a consolidated play area, to keep frantic kiddies and noisy teen-agers separate from those in pursuit of a relaxed pizza or chicken dinner.
The Joneses outlined their plans for the center on Thursday. The self-contained "Toddler Town" area will include equipment designed for 6-month-olds to 3-year-olds. For up to 15-year-olds: the so-called "soft play" equipment, featuring colorful, crawl-through tubes and slides will be 18-feet high and will fill 1,500 square feet, roughly the size of a small house. For older children, there will be an arcade and a 15-by-15-foot "air-bounce" room.
For parents, there will be a lounge and exercise equipment. But, "We do encourage parental participation," Chuck Jones said. "Adults can fit in and get through [the playground equipment] and have just as much fun as kids do."
Jones, as a coach and former football player, also wants to be involved in the community by speaking to children at schools or churches to make sure they're doing the things they need to do to succeed in life. The Joneses expanded the demographics of the business to include teen-agers, because they realize that older children often don't have enough to do with their free time.
They are also researching play equipment that would be appropriate and accessible for handicapped children.
"It's involved with kids, it's something positive, something good," Jones said.
by CNB