National Pinball Museum to close

[gryhnd]

Did a search, didn't see this posted elsewhere:

National Pinball Museum to close

Just five months after opening its doors to delighted pinheads and wizards across the D.C. region, Georgetown’s National Pinball Museum is being forced to close.

David Silverman, the Silver Spring man whose dream it was to share his pinball collection with the masses, said Monday that he has received a letter informing him that he will have to vacate his third-floor space at the Shops at Georgetown Park in mid-July.

[ChadTower]

Well, if he put up $300k of his own cash, and had 200 machines running, clearly he's retired and has some money to burn.  Or else he's paying techs to maintain 200 games.

[piecesof8]

I'm a couple hours south of there. Been meaning to make it up there to check this out, but it's another one of those things I just haven't had time for yet... Guess I might never get that chance now.

I haven't heard one good thing about the location - basically a long-dead mall with no parking. What I gather is that he got 2 years rent-free, sunk $300k into improvements, then the mall changed hands and the new owners are making good on the "we can kick you out any time we damn well please" clause in the lease. It's a bummer to see this happen, but investing $300k into a location and not checking the lease to see that they can kick you out whenever they want = serious long-term planning fail.

[ChadTower]

What I gather is that he got 2 years rent-free

...

not checking the lease to see that they can kick you out whenever they want = serious long-term planning fail.

Sounds more like an educated risk he failed on than something he didn't notice.  2 years rent free is a pretty good tradeoff for a 60 day clause on an out of the box risky venture like a pinball museum.

[Vigo]

Dumping 300k into a place that can dump you on your ass any given moment without reason seems pretty stupid. Any risk backed by education would say that this is a bad idea.

And I have heard many times over tactics of crappy outdated malls starting leases for dirt cheap, then once a renter dumps all their investment into it, the mall jacks up the rent 10 fold at the first lease renewal. I wouldn't be surprised if the mall tried to do that before kicking this guy out on the street.

[ChadTower]

Pretty much.  I never said it was a good risk.   

[Donkbaca]

How in the hell does anyone dump 300k into a store front?  For that amount, he could have just pre-paid a ten year lease somewhere. ...

[Vigo]

Pretty much.  I never said it was a good risk.   

Yep. He sounds like he had enough money backing him to just purchase a commercial property and not deal with this at all.

[Vigo]

How in the hell does anyone dump 300k into a store front?  For that amount, he could have just pre-paid a ten year lease somewhere. ...

Giant Pinball flippers. The kind that flips out deadbeats and vandals.

[ChadTower]

The type of electrical infrastructure upgrades that support 200 pinball machines aren't cheap.

[Donkbaca]

The type of electrical infrastructure upgrades that support 200 pinball machines aren't cheap.

We are talking about a commercial space, so its not like he was hot-wiring a barn in the middle of a field, and the upgrades, if they were needed were not THAT expensive.

[ChadTower]

The type of electrical infrastructure upgrades that support 200 pinball machines aren't cheap.

We are talking about a commercial space, so its not like he was hot-wiring a barn in the middle of a field, and the upgrades, if they were needed were not THAT expensive.

No, not $300k, but still a substantial chunk of it.  And I would be surprised if his requirements didn't require a lot of upgrades feeding into his space and the mall owners would make him pay for those too.  Especially given his rent free status.

[piecesof8]

Giant Pinball flippers. The kind that flips out deadbeats and vandals.

And pop bumper benches. Try to sit on one and it flings you across the room.

[Donkbaca]

Hopefully they can salvage the stuff for when they move.  Sucks they will have to dump several hundred K into basic wiring again when they do....

[ChadTower]

Wow, Chad, that was deep.  Thanks for the post.

Aw, having a bad day?  Did somebody hurt your feelings?   

[Necro]

Weird - I caught the tail end of this story on NPR last night and they never said it was a pinball museum in the few minutes I caught...only the 5 month thing, being booted, and I was like 'WTF...that's nuts...'

Also, it's the DC area - in Georgetown no less.  ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- around here is EXPENSIVE.

[RayB]

You guys do know it's pretty much standard practice that in any commercial/industrial/retail space you lease, any upgrades / decor/ renos are on your dime right?  It's standard practice. What you do is make sure as much of your important decor investment as possible can be dismantled and re-installed at another location if you need to move.

Also AFAIK, in most retail spaces if you fail to pay your rent one month, the landlord can lock your doors and seize all contents.

[Donkbaca]

landlord - tennant law will vary from state to state, and the portability of the improvements will depend on the nature of the improvements. 

That being said, putting 300k into a shop without even a firm commitment of occupancy is just dumb.

[piecesof8]

I'm thinking he saw free rent for 2 years! and didn't really think it through beyond that. A quick google search on that place shows that it's not exactly the most stable location to sink a big investment into. Maybe both he and the former owners of the mall were overly optimistic about the amount of foot traffic the museum would bring in. The new owners, not so much.

http://www.nationalpinballmuseum.org/whats_new/NPM%20Response%20to%20Lease.pdf

Hopefully he'll be able to pull through this and open in a new location. One that has parking. And less hellish traffic. And he has enough money left to get a lawyer to look over the new lease.

[Vigo]

I also think that since he is in a location that pretty much has museums flying out it's ass, nobody cares enough about another museum. 

He would find a lot more support from the local chamber of commerce and from the community if this were in a city that wanted to put themselves on the map more with a unique attraction. Instead, this guy plops a museum in a back lot, dying mall and nobody thinks twice.