Restored Arcade Building shell and upper rooms
Restore the building envelope, modernize the facade, reopen the presence of the property downtown, and activate the rooms above the main levels as part of the overall destination mix.
Arcade Plan
Arcade Building Revitalization and Reuse
This page is the condensed public program list for the Arcade Building ecosystem. It focuses on what is planned to go in the building and around the district, while the dossier carries the deeper strategy, funding, and operating detail.
Program framing
What the public plan is positioning.
- The National Scare Center is presented as the flagship attraction inside the larger Arcade Building ecosystem.
- The left-side arcade, food, themed rooms, studios, shops, community floor, offices, control spaces, and hotel functions are planned as one coordinated destination mix.
- The district logic is built around longer stays, walkable movement, and later combo-ticket packaging that can connect downtown anchors and future riverwalk programming.
What is planned
Program list
National Scare Center attraction core
Build the flagship year-round immersive attraction inside the Arcade Building as the main draw that turns Jamestown into more than a one-stop visit.
Two-story left-side arcade expansion
Use the left-side expansion for a larger family arcade, accessible gaming, weekly tournaments, and all-ages repeat traffic.
Themed scary rooms and immersive hotel rooms
Create premium themed rooms, horror-forward stay experiences, and highly detailed scare environments that extend the attraction beyond one walkthrough.
Theme burger joint and quick-service food
Add the themed burger concept as a visible ground-floor food draw tied to the larger attraction experience without positioning it as a generic full-time chain-style restaurant.
Underground community and event floor
Use the basement as a flexible civic/event venue with youth-center use, dance/events use, adult nightlife programming on weekends, and senior recreation blocks in daytime hours.
Recording studio and local media space
Include a recording studio and related audio/media capability so local musicians and creators have a downtown production space.
Shops and small-business incubator space
Reserve retail footprints for local entrepreneurs, themed retail, and small business activity that benefits from attraction-driven foot traffic.
Rooftop dining, bar, and centralized kitchen
Build the main commercial kitchen on the rooftop with food service routed to lower levels and add an upscale dining/bar component above the city.
Digital recreation of the restored interior
Create a high-fidelity digital twin and recorded restoration archive so the building can be explored, documented, and presented before and after physical work.
Facade modernization and digital display windows
Refresh the brick exterior, clean up the street presence, and use controlled display-window technology for community messaging, event promotion, and attraction visuals.
Security room, command booth, and building control room
Include dedicated operations, security, and control spaces for venue monitoring, attraction management, timed room behavior, and building-wide coordination.
Automated room timing and show control
Run rooms, effects, and building sequences through timed automation so attractions, hotel effects, and operations shift cleanly through the day and night.
Offices and support rooms
Provide back-of-house office, staff, storage, and operational support space needed to manage the building and attraction ecosystem professionally.
Riverwalk Amphitheater connection
Extend the district toward the river with a future amphitheater and event corridor that sits within walking distance of the Arcade Building and other anchors.
Local-business corridor support
Design the project to push traffic into surrounding restaurants, shops, hotels, events, and future combo-ticket partnerships rather than trap spending inside one building.
Targeted ride, youth, and workforce support programs
Use the project to support youth programming, safer ride options between anchors, and local workforce/talent pipelines tied to hospitality, performance, and technical production.
Why it is structured this way
District and operating goals
- Restore a major landmark instead of letting another visible building sit dormant.
- Create a second destination anchor strong enough to help force overnight stays.
- Drive foot traffic into local food, lodging, shops, and events across downtown.
- Support youth programming, community use, senior recreation, and safer nightlife circulation.
- Create a visible corridor between the Comedy Center, Arcade Building, and future riverwalk activity.
- Build a project big enough to attract outside capital and long-term operating momentum.
Next step