“That set forth a domino effect of issues that really have put this entire complex, I’m going to say, two years behind the anticipated schedule,” said Goodman. “That meant the project completely changed.”
Being described as a catastrophic collapse of Building 500, a field dome that was to be a pre-engineered metal building, collapsed on March 26, 2021, when strong winds blew through Hamilton, leveling all the steel beams erected. No one was injured in the collapse, but neighbors told the Journal-News then it sounded like a bombing.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Almost two years later, the lawsuits started. Spooky Nook was sued by the general contractor, and Spooky Nook filed a counter suit. Insurance companies and subcontractors joined the litigation and a seemingly flotilla of attorneys were brought into the fold.
None of the litigation has yet be be settled, and the sports center is not yet complete, both inside and out. The facility’s restaurant, the Forklift & Palate, has had its opening delayed, but Spooky Nook said the project will still happen.
However, what won’t happen is King Corona, a two-story Latin kitchen and cantina, was expected to be open by last year, but that project never materialized, though work had started. In late February, the King Corona ownership group said while they have not ruled out having a restaurant in Hamilton, now is not the time.
Officials from both Spooky Nook and King Corona confirmed a mutual agreement to break the planned lease agreement as the restaurant reassesses its strategic plans.
“Unfortunately, we decided to go in a different direction,” Nathan Taylor, a King Corona co-owner, told the Journal-News last month. “With all that is going on in the restaurant industry, building a $3 million project in an area that’s not fully developed was a very risky move.”
About a week later, Petals & Wicks announced it would close its Spooky Nook location after two years. Owner Sherry Hoskins said the foot traffic wasn’t there for them.
“It saddens us deeply but it’s necessary for us to protect and keep our first love open, which is Main Street,” Hoskins said during an announcement made on Facebook live. “We believe in the vision of Spooky Nook and wish them all the best. We know there’s a vision there, we know there’s a future there.”
Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill is a 1.2 million-square-foot facility that bisects North B Street in the renovated and reproposed former Champion Mill Paper Mill. It is now the largest indoor sports complex in the country.
Spooky Nook spokesperson Mackenzie Bender said they’ll miss Petals & Wicks as a tenant and understand their need to focus on their Main Street location.
Though Hoskins may not have seen the foot traffic she hoped, Spooky Nook is seeing continued growth. In 2024, nearly 1 million guests visited the facility. The sports and events side of the 1.2 million square-foot facility opened in earnest in 2023.
That 1 million visitor achievement took Spooky Nook’s Pennsylvania facility four years to accomplish.
“Our tournaments alone have generated over 8,000 annual room nights at our Warehouse Hotel, while overall complex traffic has contributed to more than 35,000 hotel stays across the county,” Bender said. “We remain committed to bringing energy, engagement, and economic impact to the entire region.”
Goodman said it’s been “a learning curve” for he and his co-owners at Municipal Brew Works because the Spooky Nook location is used differently than the one at 20 High St. However, they’ll have to lean into the Spooky Nook location heavy when they’ll have to shut down for a month or two when the new owners of their building convert the former city building into the Municipal Hotel. MBW will be an important piece of that project.
Everything that happens at 20 High St. will be moved to Spooky Nook, Goodman said.
“We get little tastes at what the potential could be, and I think that gives us a lot of hope for the future,” he said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. This is a very large complex with a lot of moving parts.”
Brad Baker has the only local business on the sports and events side of the 1.2 million-square-foot complex that bisects North B Street. Champion Mill Arcade opened a couple of years ago as an expansion of sorts of the arcade aspect of his Pinball Garage on North Third Street. He also owns the restaurant All8Up, also on North Third Street.
Baker said he’s been “all in” with the Spooky Nook concept since he visited the original two years ago, calling it “crazy busy” with people shopping and eating as tournaments were happening. But that took years to get to that point, he said.
It will still take Spooky Nook in Hamilton time to see that level of weekday foot traffic, but Baker said all the promises Spooky Nook owner Sam Beiler made him “have held true.” The tournaments in 2024 exceeded the ones in 2023 and the ones that have happened this year and will happen, are anticipated to exceed last year.
“We had the busiest weekend we ever had, between both our businesses, Pinball Garage and All8Up, and it beat our previous records and sales by double,” he said of the large volleyball tournament a couple of weeks ago. “There were an insane amount of teams that made their way over.”
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