Missouri company buys Scene 75 locations, including Cincinnati’s

Scene75, closed since May 2019, plans to reopen later this month. The indoor entertainment center on Poe Avenue in Vandalia was heavily damaged by the Memorial Day tornadoes. The newly refurbished center has added a two-story carousel, a spin roller coaster, an indoor 18-hole mini golf course and a banquet center. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Credit: Lisa Powell

Credit: Lisa Powell

Scene75, closed since May 2019, plans to reopen later this month. The indoor entertainment center on Poe Avenue in Vandalia was heavily damaged by the Memorial Day tornadoes. The newly refurbished center has added a two-story carousel, a spin roller coaster, an indoor 18-hole mini golf course and a banquet center. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Branson, Mo.-based Five Star Parks & Attractions, an operator of family entertainment centers, now owns the Scene 75 indoor entertainment centers, including the one at 876 Ohio 28 in Milford.

Five Star acquired all five Scene 75 locations in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, in addition to the local location.

Terms of the acquisition were not released.

In 2012, former Scene 75 owner Jonah Sandler and his father opened the first site at a former warehouse on Poe Avenue in Dayton, near the former ITT Tech School property, which the Scene 75 company also purchased in time.

In the years following the opening of the Poe Avenue site, Sandler opened locations 30 miles south of Cleveland in Brunswick, Ohio, along with a 84,000-square-foot Cincinnati-area venue in Milford. A Columbus center opened late in 2018.

Jonah Sandler, the founder and chief entertainment officer of Scene75, in a 2019 photo. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Credit: Lisa Powell

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Credit: Lisa Powell

A couple of challenging years followed. The 2019 Memorial Day tornadoes substantially damaged the Dayton property. And the COVID-19-related lockdowns affected business, as well.

“It was pretty bad,” owner Les Sandler told this newspaper in October 2019. “We had the roof basically lifted up. Because of that, the sprinkler system went off so we had water damage. We have HVAC’s we’re still looking for that flew off the roof and we don’t know where they are.”

With the acquisition, Five Star expands its portfolio to 25 family entertainment centers in 12 states.

“We are pleased to welcome Scene 75 to the growing Five Star Parks family,” John Dunlap, Five Star chief executive, said in a release. “We have long admired Scene 75′s commitment to providing high-quality, innovative entertainment experiences for families and are excited to continue that tradition.”

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