Listen to this articleA new indoor trampoline and entertainment venue called Empire Adventure Park has opened in the Samanea New York mall in Westbury.
Elected officials and local business leaders joined Matthew Mullen, owner of Empire Adventure Park, and Dominic Coluccio, head of real estate for the mall, on Thursday for a grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The 35,000-square-foot Empire Adventure Park features 17 attractions including ninja courses, trampolines, climbing walls, laser tag, virtual reality arenas, augmented reality games, glide rail ziplining, a playground for the younger guests and more. The venue employs trained staff to supervise play areas and participants are required to sign a waiver before taking part in the park’s activities.
In addition to the attractions, the venue has a café with free Wi-Fi, and a variety of food and drink options. There is a self-service bar where adult guests can purchase a beverage. The eight tap self-pour bar offers four beers, two wines, and two cocktails, according to a company statement.
“Empire Adventure Park has been many years in the making, and I am proud to officially be open for business. I would like to thank everyone who helped make it a reality as well as those who joined us to celebrate,” Mullen, former owner of an insurance agency, said in the statement. “As a lifelong Long Islander and entrepreneur, I had big dreams of what Empire Adventure Park would look like and offer to the community. Finding a space big enough to accommodate what I had in mind was no easy task, but I was driving by Samanea one day and knew it was the perfect location. As the newest entertainment destination on Long Island, drawing visitors for a unique and exciting time out, Samanea has already proven to be the perfect home for Empire. We invite everyone to come and join us for some fun.”
Empire Adventure Park is the first new entertainment anchor tenant on the second floor of Samanea New York in more than 25 years. Formerly known as the Source Mall, the property at 1500 Old Country Road was nearly vacant when it was purchased by Chinese conglomerate Lesso Group Holdings for $92 million in 2018 and has since undergone a $30 million renovation under the supervision of Lesso’s Singapore-based subsidiary Samanea.
Leasing efforts over the past five years, spearheaded by Collucio and the Colliers team of Matthew Kucker, Jordan Baruch and Herb Agin, have focused on experiential retail tenants, including restaurants and entertainment venues, which has brought the occupancy rate at Samanea New York to 78 percent.
“This is such an exciting time for us at Samanea New York with many new venues opening their doors. Our team is proud of the work being done to revitalize this once iconic property to be a unique lifestyle destination that not only offers a variety of options to entertain, dine, and shop, but also creates jobs and economic benefits,” Coluccio said in the statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Empire Adventure Park to Samanea’s one-of-a-kind tenant roster. It is a beautiful new, first of its kind, entertainment venue offering fun for all guests, and we look forward to a long successful partnership.”