Massive renovation to change hotel into entertainment center

By RON FIELDS
rfields@thehawkeye.com

If all goes according to plan, the last thing patrons of the revamped Pzazz hotel complex will have to do is

strain to hear the music.

"We're going to turn that place on, take a little bit of Hollywood and bring it to the

Mississippi," said Guy O'Hazza, who operates audio/visual company Guy–Tek Inc. out of the Los Angeles

area.

 O'Hazza's crews will be on scene at the hotel site this week, putting in place the hundreds of speakers,

video screens and big–screen televisions that will add sight and sound to Pzazz.

 Owner Randy Winegard said the opening of the new entertainment complex, which will include a bowling center,

arcade, sports bar, indoor/outdoor water park and go–cart racing, was delayed about a month by weather and

problems with one subcontractor

 "We're looking at mid–June, if we don't have any significant holdups," Winegard said last week.

 "We're probably about a month behind.

" The entire project, dubbed "Fun City," is expected to cost "more than$10 million," Winegard said.

The project has swallowed up most of the block between Kirkwood Street and

Winegard Drive, with Pzazz acquiring the former Roosevelt Lanes bowling alley, as well as the former miniature

golf property east of the Dairy Queen. Winegard also purchased the former Deery Dodge building and the former

 Payless Shoes, which was razed.

 Winegard said there are no further plans to pursue the Dairy Queen property at this time.

With the indoor demolition complete, contractors are working with the weather during the construction

of a wall, which will connect the complex to the new bowling center and the go–cart track, housed in the former

Deery Dodge building on Roosevelt Avenue.

 In the coming weeks, the most visible work will be done rebuilding

the walls of the former JB Barracuda's bar, which will also be raised to two floors to accommodate the high ceilings

of the indoor portion of the water park. Winegard is working in conjunction with the city on the water park, using

$1.8 million in public money to help get the project off the ground.

Plans for the new hotel, which will have about 145 rooms when the project is completed, have changed incrementally

in the past two years since Winegard made his intentions public. Even well into in the construction phase, Winegard's

team is adding new features.

Rob Higgins, who will oversee the entertainment portion of the complex and continue his duties as chief at Spirit

Hollow Golf Course, said the latest addition is an "extreme theater," that will offer interactive, three–dimensional

thrill rides, complete with moving seats to add to the effect.

Winegard said the go–carts and water park equipment have been ordered, noting the arcade games will be purchased

within the next couple of weeks.

Dave Walker, who manages the hotel portion of Pzazz, said guests have been

"quite understanding," about the inconveniencesposed by the construction all around them.

"The noisy part is pretty well over," Walker said, noting his staff fields

more questions about the new Fun City than complaints. He said his staff puts those making reservations on notice

that former amenities such as the indoor pool and Martini's Bar & Grille no longer are available.

 "We just make sure we're up front with them," he said, adding that the construction has gone smoother for the hotel

 portionof the operationthat he initially believed.

Fun City operators plan to quell some of the curiosity with a virtual tourthat is expected to be launched on the Internet

by next weekend at onefuncity.com

One aspect of the hotel that is going to be th most obvious for new customers, Higgins said, are the sights and sounds

piping through the equipment O'Hazza plan to install.

"The audio and visual in the entire complex is going to be spectacular," Higgins said.

O'Hazza ran down a laundry list of the estimated $2 million in components — a 61–inch, high–definition plasma screen

for the lounge, a large–screen LCD projector over each of the bowling center's 12 lanes, 32 42–inch plasma screens,

38 30–inch LCDscreens. The audio will be piped over an intricate system of 230 speakers placed throughout the facility,

O'Hazza said.

"It's an extremely advanced, digitally based audio and video system," said O'Hazza, whose company has outfitted Nike

 headquarters in Portland, Ore., and helped create a massive laser show at Metroparks' Riverscape in Dayton, Ohio.

The company also lists Disney as a client. "Our intent is to use the things we learned from amusement parks like Disney

 and Universal and put them into application into this space," O'Hazza said.

"I think it will wow some people," Winegard said, noting he hopes to open the entire facility at once, rather than in phases.

onefuncity.com