West Allegheny to Host Gold Card Club Holiday Breakfast

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The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression doesn’t sound like a great time to start a multi-million dollar real estate venture. Yet in 2009, as retail companies across the country were reeling, leaving large box stores in prime shopping locations vacant, Robinson native and Latitude Global (LGI) CEO, Brent Brown, realized it was just the opportunity his company needed. As early as 2007, the Montour alum’s private equity firm, The Brownstone Group, had been developing an idea for an entertainment complex around luxury, boutique bowling. When the real estate bubble popped in 2008, BY DOUG HUGHEY making some rather large venue options available, LGI settled on a former Toys-R-Us in Jacksonville, Florida for its first location. The company renovated the 50,000- square-foot building, packing it with everything from live bands and hightech bowling to a movie theater, and added LED-lit bubble walls and dark oak accents. Just months later, the concept attracted a partnership with publicly-traded Entertainment Partners Trust, which, according to the “Wall Street Journal,” has been searching for ways to expand beyond its bread and butter AMC movie theater property management business. BELOW: Brent Brown inside Latitude 40 at the bowling lanes while they were still under construction; lower and upper floor diagrams show all the entertainment venues inside. PHOTO BY SARAH HUGHEY
BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Scenes from inside the new Latitude 40. PHOTOS BY LATITUDE 40 With a $25 million infusion from EPT, LGI is about to open two new locations in Chicago and Indianapolis, but not before putting the final touches on its second location in Brent’s old backyard at the Pointe at North Fayette. There, the once weed-strewn Roomful Express building has gotten a thorough, $14-million facelift, including a new addition to house a theater and patio roof deck. Named after its nearest latitude line, Latitude 40’s doors opened last month, and, like its sister location in Jacksonville, features a range of entertainment options. The promising retail market, along with the proximity of hotels and airport, says Brent, played no small part in LGI’s decision to invest in his hometown, where his concept has created about 190 jobs amidst the tough economy. “I love what they’ve done,” says Brent about the area where he grew up, went to high school, and met his wife in eighth grade. “It’s an amazing change.” Brent says that through his wife, Antonia Zambrano Brown, they’ve retained close familial ties to the area, and that the two have made frequent trips back with their three children. Recently, they bought a townhome in Centennial Point near Settler’s Ridge. Last year, Brent’s brother, Kyle, another area native, joined LGI as its director of venue oversight. Like Brent, Kyle also graduated from Montour in the 1980s, where both brothers played football. While Brent went on to attend the Naval Academy and quarterback the football team, Kyle played for a season at the University of Pittsburgh. Brent went on to pursue investment banking, while Kyle got into real estate development and management. In 2007, Brent teamed up with fellow investors to start The Brownstone Group, and together they began the hard work of traveling across the country, checking out similar type venues. Brent says that it actually was a lot of work. “Really, it was a team of professionals who worked very hard to develop the concept,” he says. “It was no one person or moment. It was a year-long process.” What they came up with was a sprawling, open floor, Vegasstyle format that encapsulated the best of what they’d experienced. Latitude 40 features 24 lanes of luxury bowling on two floors, 70 arcade games, a sports theater, live music, comedy acts, and a 90-seat, single-screen theater showing second-run movies. Cocktail service is available throughout, serving a menu that LGI Business Developer Mike Biogiotti describes as Neuvo American. That means options like seared and blackened tuna sashimi and ribeye steaks, but not at the expense of comfort standbys like burgers and pulled pork sandwiches. For those preferring a quiet, sit-down dinner, there will also be a restaurant downstairs, partitioned off by bubble walls dampening the sound from a nearby, multi-tiered sports theater, which will show just about any major sports event, including every NFL game. Upstairs, past the glass-enclosed wine room, entertainment seekers can also bowl while listening to live bands and DJ’s. Brent says they’ll have one of either every Friday and Saturday night. Or they can check out live comedy and bands in the Vegas-style theater. Once the weather improves, the outdoor patio will also be open. In Jacksonville, Mike says, both theaters have proven popular for private events. Outfitted with video conferencing equipment, the live theater was 90 percent booked last year with events ranging from college booster meetings to product announcements. The movie theater, says Mike, has proven popular for birthday parties, for which LGI can either download a movie or hook up a video game system to the theater’s enormous screen. Brent says on Sundays it’s commandeered by local Steelers fans, who announce their presence by displaying a giant, blow-up Steeler outside the venue. That may or may not have something to do with Brent being a devoted and lifelong Steelers fan himself. Either way, he says, “it’s one location, endless possibilities. From the youngest to the oldest, they all have a great time.”
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West Allegheny to Host Gold Card Club Holiday Breakfast

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