Missouri company buys Scene 75 locations, including Dayton’s

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, 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.

“Dayton is where it all started,” Jonah Sandler told the Dayton Daily News in 2018. “I look forward to bringing new attractions to our Dayton location.”

A couple of challenging years followed. The 2019 Memorial Day tornadoes substantially damaged the local 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.”

The only property in Montgomery County that reported more damage in the 2019 tornadoes was Hara Arena, whose owners report suffered $7.5 million in damage from the storm, according to Montgomery County auditor’s office data at the time.

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.”