Hello everyone...been following these forums for a little while now & figured I have to jump in sooner or later. Been around this great biz for awhile now. It all started in the late 70's early eighties @ the Brigantine Castle @ the Jersey Shore. Anyone remember that great place? Acted there during high school until the entire pier burnt down. Went on to work at several volunteer haunts over the years along with some pretty elaborate home haunts but I really am looking forward to a "ground up" build. This will be my first run as at professional haunt. I've been a general contractor for 22years and have built & sold various businesses over that time. Now I want to do something I enjoy! One of my "hobbies" includes metal fabrication & have built many custom motorcycles & race cars but I really enjoy designing & building props.
We are looking to lease a 27,000 square foot space in a "strip center" behind one of the largest malls in a 60 mile radius. We are in a densely populated part of New Jersey with no professional style haunts within 40 miles or so. We would like to operate two fully themed, very detailed attractions under one roof with all que lines & concession area as well. We intend to lease this space year round because of the money & complexity of the build out we want to sign a 5 year lease. We have an offer to the mall operators of $3.00 per square foot with a .50 cent per foot increase each year. What we wanted to ask an opinion on is - does that sound about right for leasing prices? This building has been closed for about 10 years but it is in great shape & it does have a full sprinkler system.
Being in the building biz for so long (I don't know if that's good or bad anymore...lol) I have good working relationships with all the inspectors & I am VERY familiar how to approach them. I am well versed with all the rigid requirements (which I am on board with most) and have a near genius friend who handles all our sophisticated wiring, sound & fogging systems & animatronics. We plan on having several large "interactive" props (of course in NJ their called "Amusements!) that should be worth the admission price alone. The designs for these "props" has to be approved by a licensed engineer & inspected by a NJ DCA inspector prior to using each season. We feel the cost to bring these types of "props" to our customers is well worth it...hopefully they will be blown away. Rather than gore, we are more into what naturally scares people...heights, elevators, claustrophobia, etc. and I think we have the right "wrinkles" on some classic ideas.
We're going to start with a $30,000. marketing budget this year. I have been in talks with several sponsors & luckily I'm close friends with a billboard operator & a popular morning show DJ...so we'll being getting some decent discounts. We will be located approximately 5 miles outside of Atlantic City and a short distance to all the popular tourist towns...Wildwood, Ocean City, etc. We were thinking (although probably not this year) to possibly doing some heavy advertising in those shore tourist spots with those millions of tourist in the summer and opening during August. Any opinions on that? I'd like to hear anyone's thoughts on trying something like that.
Lastly, we were thinking of charging $13.00 per attraction or $24.00 for a combo ticket. The attractions should be about 8,000' - 9,000' sq. ft. and very detailed. We estimate about a 15-18 minute "walk-thru" time. We would like any opinions on our pricing...too high...too low...whatever. Although this is a "for profit" haunt we do intend to donate about $1.00 per ticket to the local homeless shelter, one of our favorite charities because there are NO paid positions there...every dollar goes to help the homeless.
Sorry for the long thread...guess I've had all this bottled up for so long! lol Appreciate any thoughts on any matters on opening a new haunt. Glad to finally be a part of the "community".
We are looking to lease a 27,000 square foot space in a "strip center" behind one of the largest malls in a 60 mile radius. We are in a densely populated part of New Jersey with no professional style haunts within 40 miles or so. We would like to operate two fully themed, very detailed attractions under one roof with all que lines & concession area as well. We intend to lease this space year round because of the money & complexity of the build out we want to sign a 5 year lease. We have an offer to the mall operators of $3.00 per square foot with a .50 cent per foot increase each year. What we wanted to ask an opinion on is - does that sound about right for leasing prices? This building has been closed for about 10 years but it is in great shape & it does have a full sprinkler system.
Being in the building biz for so long (I don't know if that's good or bad anymore...lol) I have good working relationships with all the inspectors & I am VERY familiar how to approach them. I am well versed with all the rigid requirements (which I am on board with most) and have a near genius friend who handles all our sophisticated wiring, sound & fogging systems & animatronics. We plan on having several large "interactive" props (of course in NJ their called "Amusements!) that should be worth the admission price alone. The designs for these "props" has to be approved by a licensed engineer & inspected by a NJ DCA inspector prior to using each season. We feel the cost to bring these types of "props" to our customers is well worth it...hopefully they will be blown away. Rather than gore, we are more into what naturally scares people...heights, elevators, claustrophobia, etc. and I think we have the right "wrinkles" on some classic ideas.
We're going to start with a $30,000. marketing budget this year. I have been in talks with several sponsors & luckily I'm close friends with a billboard operator & a popular morning show DJ...so we'll being getting some decent discounts. We will be located approximately 5 miles outside of Atlantic City and a short distance to all the popular tourist towns...Wildwood, Ocean City, etc. We were thinking (although probably not this year) to possibly doing some heavy advertising in those shore tourist spots with those millions of tourist in the summer and opening during August. Any opinions on that? I'd like to hear anyone's thoughts on trying something like that.
Lastly, we were thinking of charging $13.00 per attraction or $24.00 for a combo ticket. The attractions should be about 8,000' - 9,000' sq. ft. and very detailed. We estimate about a 15-18 minute "walk-thru" time. We would like any opinions on our pricing...too high...too low...whatever. Although this is a "for profit" haunt we do intend to donate about $1.00 per ticket to the local homeless shelter, one of our favorite charities because there are NO paid positions there...every dollar goes to help the homeless.
Sorry for the long thread...guess I've had all this bottled up for so long! lol Appreciate any thoughts on any matters on opening a new haunt. Glad to finally be a part of the "community".
Comment