Lighthouse Entertainment owner Nancy Smith shows the catalog picture of one of her new inflatables, a 17-foot-high, 25-by-40-foot maze for children up to age 12.
Henderson is getting a new option for parties for children and adults with the Lighthouse Entertainment Complex.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment granted a special-use permit to the planned 9,724-square-foot building Tuesday afternoon, and if the county building permit also comes through, the groundbreaking should be June 8, owner Nancy Smith said.
The complex will go on Parkview Drive West in a development called NorthPark, off Beckford Drive behind the new Social Security Administration building. That puts it about half a mile from the Marketplace Cinema, also operated by Lighthouse Entertainment.
The new building will include the administrative offices for Lighthouse Entertainment and represents an investment of almost $1 million, Smith said.
“It’s an investment in the community, and the community has invested in us by continuing to patronize our businesses and dictated this growth, really,” Smith said.
In an interview at her soon-to-be-former office off Parham Street this week, Smith said the main purpose of the Lighthouse Entertainment Complex will be birthday parties for children ages 2 to 12. Inside, the children will find something they can’t get anywhere else within 55 miles: an inflatable play center.
“The primary purpose of the building is to provide private party children’s entertainment, which makes us unique,” Smith said.
The heart of the building will be a 4,800-square-foot central area with 20-foot ceilings, the bounce area. It will be divided into two bounce rooms, each holding three massive inflatables. One of the rooms will be for 7- to 12-year-olds, the other for children ages 2 to 8.
Her new inflatables will be three times the size of the units Lighthouse takes to off-site parties now. Each of the six new units will cost $4,000 to $12,000, Smith said.
The older children’s area will include a sport bungee inflatable for playing basketball; the younger children’s area will have a giant slide. Each side also will have an age-appropriate obstacle-course maze.
“It’s just a difference in how extreme the inflatables are,” Smith said.
She likes that she’s not stuck with the same play equipment forever. “One of the other wonderful things about inflatables is … I can change out inflatables rather easily.”
Surrounding the bounce area will be four party rooms, and there will be an observation area with a concession stand offering fare similar to what’s available at the movie theater. One addition will be sno-cones.
She said there’s plenty of birthday business to go around for her, Adventure Island, the Skateeum and Carolina Lanes. “Children’s birthdays are so very important to that child and that family.”
Smith said she’s booked eight Saturdays ahead for off-site parties now. “The center will allow me to provide more services to more people.”
Lighthouse will draw from a larger area because there are no other indoor inflatables centers around. That was one of the primary reasons for the Beckford site, Smith said: It’s easy to get to for people coming from Vance, Granville, Franklin, Warren and Mecklenburg counties.
A bounce party will consist of 55 minutes of play time in one of the bounce rooms, followed by 45 minutes in a party room. The party can bring in cake and ice cream or other food, or Lighthouse can supply pizza, boxed lunches or other food from Gray’s Gourmet. Lighthouse also can deliver party bags and provide services such as face painting and balloon animals.
Smith promised she won’t do any cooking. “I don’t cook at home, so I don’t cook here,“ Smith said, “and nobody would pay me for it.”
The base party, for up to 20 children, will cost $150, Smith said.
One of the party rooms at the complex will be used for theme parties, such as the tea parties Lighthouse now does off-site, and another party room will be available in conjunction with movie parties at Marketplace.
While the entertainment complex will be devoted to birthday parties from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and from 12:30 to 7 p.m. Sundays, it will be available for private party rentals on Fridays. In an hour or so, Smith’s staff can break down the inflatables and turn the bounce rooms into one big room for a party of up to 200 people. Smith has in mind rehearsal dinners and organizational banquets.
Smith said Henderson has a limited number of high-quality facilities for such parties. The Henderson Convention Center off Satterwhite Point Road is a nice option, she said, but it books up.
The facility will be open to the public two times per week at an hourly rate of $5 per child. On Tuesdays, preschoolers will be welcome from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Thursdays, school-age children can use the complex from 3 to 7 p.m. A parent must stay with the child.
The smaller party rooms will be available for rental by groups of up to 28 people during the week.
The new complex will create three or four full-time jobs and about 15 part-time positions, in addition to the 10 people already working at Lighthouse and the 20 at Marketplace, Smith said.
She hopes to expand Lighthouse into a general entertainment company for Henderson.
“With the movie theater and then Lighthouse Entertainment, we’re really just focused on entertainment, and that encompasses a huge number of services that ultimately could be offered through Lighthouse,” Smith said. “My passion is children. What a great job to get paid to play for children.”
Lighthouse tries to add new entertainment options about every six months, Smith said, and she turns to customers for advice. “I talk to customers. Many, many of my customers are extremely loyal. … When you hear a customer say, ‘When are we …’ you know you have something.”
Smith has a passion for many facets of her job. “I really enjoy going to the theater and scooping popcorn, and I really enjoy making balloon animals for children.”
She loves Saturdays because she usually gets to spend the day at children’s parties.
“We’ve built a very loyal customer base,” Smith said, adding that Lighthouse will continue to offer off-site parties with the smaller inflatable units she has now.
One business Smith and husband Michael have dropped is their limousine service, which they sold in January. Growing the limo service would have required a huge capital investment, Smith said, and she chose to put that money into the entertainment center. By removing the need for limo space, Lighthouse was able to add the second bounce room and expand to four party rooms.
“I think it’s unique, I think it’s interactive, I think it’s personalized,” Smith said of the center. “It just adds another option to the community.”
Smith said it will take five to six months to construct the metal building with a brick-and-stucco façade, so she’s looking for an opening in late November or early December. Because she doesn’t want to risk breaking a promise to a customer, Smith said, she won’t start taking reservations for parties in the new facility until October.
“The customers have dictated our growth,” she said, “and I hope they’ll be pleased.”