The Village of Great Neck Plaza heard an application last week that had a few trustees scratching their heads.
The application, made by Game Lounge, is for a golf simulator and board game recreation shop called Golf Joy. After paying an initial membership fee of $300, members could book their spot per hour to either play simulation golf or board games.
Despite mixing up the date of the application hearing by a day, the Board of Trustees allowed the latecomers to make their case Sept. 13 in front of the board. Jonathan May, the operations manager at Golf Joy, and Michelle Liu, the president of Golf Joy, presented to the board the social benefits of their shop alongside an investor and their architect.
May said it would be an “innovative and unique entertainment venue,” but no rules on age limit have been made. It’s “not set in stone,” he said.
The age of members came into question since a liquor license was requested by the applicant to the New York State Liquor Authority. At the shop, water, soda, beer and wine would be sold within the facility. No food would be available for purchase.
May said the goal of the establishment is to “provide a safe and enjoyable entertainment option rather than just having video games at home and you could actually promote physical activity, and this is done through causal relation, and this also encourages social bonding and community bonding.”
The design of the facility was questioned by trustee Michael DeLuccia, who claimed a redesign was necessary to create more safety measures by the entrances and the golf simulators.
Mayor Ted Rosen said it seemed to him that the company needs more of an “operational plan to present to this body. I’m really talking about the safety aspects. You cannot answer what age children will be allowed in.”
Questions were also raised about the intricacies of the membership plan, such as whether membership would be mandatory to play by the hour or if non-members would be able to make an appointment and play and if so why wouldn’t priority be given to members.
“I would like to see some type of written operational plan to give a little bit more of a concrete picture of how this is going to be run,” Rosen said.
One full-time and one part-time employee would start, but the board had questions about whether that was enough staffing to properly manage and review the safety of everyone inside with the operation hours stretching from noon to 10 pm.
“It’s a good start to hear what your vision is, but I think we need you to come back when you have worked out the details. That’s just my opinion,” said Deputy Mayor Pamela Marksheid.
She said the new application looked much different from what the group had presented the last time they were before the board.
“I must say I’m a little bit confused,” she told the group, “because when you came in front of us the last time what you represented to us was that it would be a group of men who wanted to love golf and wanted to come there and use the simulator and hang out almost like a men’s club. And now what you’re proposing is completely different than that.”
“Let me ask you a basic question you can hopefully answer,” Rosen posed. “Is the purpose of Golf Joy to make a profit or is it to provide the ability for your friends to play golf? Are you looking to make a profit?”
“Yes,” said Liu.