Pins Mechanical Company hasn’t even opened yet, and it’s already getting some upgrades. The new duckpin-bowling-and-pinball-bar is swapping out a small parking lot to add a second patio, and will bring a healthy dose of new Downtown greenery along with it.
“We kept going back on forth on what to do with that corner at Fourth and Long,” explained Troy Allen, founder of Rise Brands — the parent company of Pins and 16-Bit Bar+Arcade. “We had planned on doing a patio in the back, but around a month ago we stepped back and realized we had a huge opportunity to do something with this other parking lot, and really go big and add more greenspace.”
Allen said that the company has already spoken with city officials about the changes, and has submitted the updates to the Downtown Commission for review at next week’s meeting. He said that switching from a parking lot to a patio will only eliminate 10 parking spaces, which won’t make much of a different for the 16,000 square foot venue, which can host hundreds of customers at a time.
“There are a lot of surface lots around that area,” said Allen. “By our calculations, there are around 500 parking spots within two or three blocks, and at night, no one really parks in them. So we see people utilizing those spots instead, and we already got that idea approved by the commission previously.”
Allen said that interior construction at Pins Mechanical Co. has progressed nicely so far, and the patio changes and improvements should not put them past their planned opening timeframe of late summer 2016. A skylight was also added to the plans, which will bring a lot more natural light into the space. Allen said that the changes will be worth the additional costs.
“When you’re driving up Fourth Street and get to this intersection, there’s not a lot of green,” he explained. “There’s a beer garden in Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati that I love because you’re sitting under trees there. So we want to bring in some big trees, and we’re footing a pretty big bill for these trees so that they’ll be a good size this summer and we won’t have to wait for them to fill in.”
For more information, visit www.pinsbar.com.
