Fat Cats Entertainment Coming to Queen Creek

By Tasha Anderson for AZBEX

On the heels of the recently completed Fat Cats Family Entertainment Center at Longbow Marketplace in Mesa earlier this month, FatCats Entertainment is planning another center in Queen Creek.

The project, to be located at the NWC of Riggs Road and Ellsworth Road, was approved at the Town of Queen Creek’s City Council meeting on February 5th. FatCats requested rezoning and site approval to amend the Pecan Lakes Planned Area Development to get rid of 18 residential lots zoned R1-5/PAD and increase the C-2 PAD district from 3.3 acres to 7 acres, according to the city council packet.

The Fat Cats Family Entertainment Center, Pecan Lakes will feature the same elements as the Longbow entertainment center, including eight movie theaters, a 20-lane bowling alley, arcade games, dining area, indoor mini-golf and party rooms.

The design for the 61KSF project incorporates, “a mixture of wood cladding, standing seam shed awnings, stucco, storefront windows, stucco columns, and a mixture of split and smooth face cmu block,” the documents state. “The front entry tower for the building has a building height of 48-feet and the roof parapet of the remainder of the building varies from 44-feet to 35-feet in height.”

The roof parapet around the front entryway will contain a band of colored LED lighting features that can change color.

A total of 337 parking spaces will be provided for the development. Main access to the facility will be through a shared driveway between Fat Cats and the Pecan Plaza on the east, and along 206th Street on the west, which serves the Pecan Lake residential development, LDS Church and Pecan Lake Agritainment area.

The Town of Queen Creek discussed the project at a special meeting on January 29th. According to the city council documents, the staff expressed concern with the LED lighting and the impact on surrounding neighborhoods such as the Toll Brothers at Bridle Ranch development to the south; however, they recommended approval of the project on the condition that the lighting be turned off by 11:00 p.m.