The company Elev8 Fun will open its next location at Citrus Park Mall. Elev8 Fun is a family-friendly entertainment concept that is coming to shopping malls across the United States. The new space will feature go-karts, arcade, a restaurant and more. The Elev8 Fun at Citrus Park Mall is scheduled to open by the end of 2022.
The first Elev8 Fun location was opened in Sanford, Florida, in 2021. It features a multi-level go-kart track, an arcade with over 150 retro arcade games, 12 full-sized bowling lanes, laser tag, interactive mini-golf, a ropes course and a full-service restaurant. The idea behind Elev8 Fun is to bring life to distressed properties across the country. Specifically shopping malls and abandoned department stores.
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“We are thrilled to bring entertainment and excitement back to malls—to create a place to gather socially and resurrect the sense of community that malls have always represented to all of us,” said David Goldfarb, consulting partner in Elev8 and founder of PrimeTime Amusements.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, The Citrus Park Town Center in west Hillsborough County was formerly known as Westfield Citrus Park, but Westfield gave back ownership of the shopping center when they defaulted on a multimillion-dollar loan. Goldfarb said malls need to adapt in order to survive and compete against e-commerce platforms like Amazon. His answer to bringing people back to the shopping centers is with entertainment centers.
“We thought that Tampa is really missing a really good entertainment venue for such a big market,” Goldfarb said. “I mean you have facilities here, but not at the scale that we’re doing it.”
Photos from the Elev8 Fun in Sanford
