Scene75 entertainment center coming to Romeoville

The former Sam’s Club site in Romeoville will be home to a Scene75 family entertainment center expected to open by the end of this summer.

The village announced that Scene75 will convert the 135,000 square-foot building into an entertainment center with an indoor spinning roller coaster, go-karts, laser tag, arcade games and more.

The arrival of Scene75 is one more addition along Romeoville’s Weber Road corridor, which has seen redevelopment of vacated big-box spaces along with new projects including a Mercedes-Benz dealership scheduled to open in 2022.

The location at 460 S. Weber Road will be the first in Illinois for Scene 75, which has four entertainment centers in Ohio.

Romeoville Mayor John Noak said the village is “thrilled” to welcome Scene75 citing its success with four other entertainment centers across Ohio.

“They will provide a wide range of entertainment for our residents and visitors,” Noak said in a news release. “Their concept has been a tremendous hit in other places and we are proud to be the site for their Illinois location.”

Scene75 expects its Romeoville venue will attract more than 400,000 visitors per year and bring hundreds of jobs to the community.

“’My team and I are extremely excited about our location in Romeoville,” Scene75 CEO Jonah Sandler said in the release. “It is first-class all the way around and is truly going to be special. I can’t wait to welcome you to Scene75 Chicago when we ultimately open.”

The center will also include a motion simulator, an inflatable bouncing and toddler zone, a nine-hole mini-golf course, bumper cars, party rooms along with a restaurant, bar and snack counter, according to the release.

Scene75 is a family owned and has won international recognition for its other four venues.

The Weber Road site was among a number of Sam’s Club locations that Walmart Stores Inc. closed in 2018.

But Noak told The Herald-News that the site provided an opportunity to bring in a unique attraction as the village continued to see development interest amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sam’s Club building is an ideal space for Scene75 to occupy because of its size and condition, Noak said.

He said that restrictions from the property owner on what the building could be used for created an opportunity to bring a unique company like Scene75, a way to creatively reuse a big-box retail space.

Sam’s Club wasn’t the only big-name chain to close stores along the Weber Road corridor, although Romeoville officials have touted continued growth in the area.

Senior Services of Will County took over a former Target building just down the road. Plus, the village has announced new fast food chains and luxury apartments coming not far from the old Sam’s Club.

The Mercedes-Benz dealership will join Toyota, which opened in 2018, as the second new-car dealership on Weber Road.

All this growth, Noak pointed out, has come despite the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve made tremendous headway given the fact that there’s a pandemic,” Noak said.