Biddeford shopping center repositioned as entertainment center
Rendering / Courtesy Atlantic Hospitality
Five Points Shopping Center in Biddeford is being converted into an entertainment and eatery complex that will be called the Five.
A Biddeford shopping center is winding up renovations to become an entertainment complex that will include pickleball courts, golf simulators, a sports bar, a fitness gym and eateries.
The project has been a long time coming. Atlantic Hospitality in Kennebunk bought the 140,000-square-foot Five Points Shopping Center at 420 Alfred Road in the late 1990s, said Tim Harrington, Atlantic Hospitality’s chairman.
Harrington is a 2023 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year whose other projects include nvestments in hotel properties in the Kennebunks, Biddeford and on Mount Desert Island.
Hospitality spin
A gut renovation ensued, as well as a new roof and façade.
“This will be the Atlantic Hospitality spin on it,” Harrington said. “It will be called the Five and it’s much more entertainment- and food-focused.”
The project includes building out an indoor pickleball venue, called Bounce Pickle + Play, that’s expected to open this year. The venue will include six pickleball courts, golf and sports simulators and a sports bar.
“Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country and Mainers have unsurprisingly caught on to the craze, but our outdoor climate poses a challenge for half of the year,” said Harrington.
Harrington’s business partner, Richard Evans, is leading the Bounce build.
Evans said he partnered with Harrington in 2008 on the development of Quest Fitness in Kennebunk, which opened in 2009.
“This is an extension of that business,” Evans said.
The project cost is between $1 million and $1.5 million, financed by Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution, Evans said.
Former movie theater
Bounce will take about 16,000 square feet of the total plaza. The Bounce space was originally an eight-screen movie theater that stopped operating during the pandemic and has been vacant since then, said Evans.
“This is an exciting opportunity to revitalize an older space,” he said.
The theater’s original footprint included separate screening rooms and a lobby out front.
“The cool thing is that six of the theaters are perfect fits for pickleball courts, so we didn’t even have to rip the walls down,” said Evans. “The rooms have super-high ceilings; the dimensions are correct.”
The two smaller theaters will house four sports simulator bays, three dedicated to golf and one a multi-use simulator with games for younger users.
Renovations have included some demolition such as removing carpets and ceilings. Installations include new flooring, ceilings and sheetrock.
Design was provided by Atlantic Hospitality’s in-house designers, Krista Stokes and Mark Cotto.
Private courts
Why the need for indoors courts?
“People can play outdoors during the summer,” Evans said. “Once we get toward the end of fall, that’s not viable.”
Golf simulators are also becoming more popular, he said.
“Technology has brought the game to the forefront,” he said.
Harrington said the Bounce courts will be different from indoor pickleball venues that are in converted warehouses.
“These are private courts,” he said.
The goal is to open Bounce this spring, said Evans.
The market is there, he said.
“Pickleball has really exploded in the Seacoast area, from New Hampshire up through Maine,” Evans said.
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