I just got an email from the guys at Cream City Skatepark in Wisconsin asking me to add a link to their park’s site on our links page, and while watching the video of what looks like a super nice park I started thinking “Is there any skater who hasn’t dreamed of owning an indoor skatepark?” Just imagine, you could skate anytime, rain, snow, or shine. You wouldn’t have to pay to skate. You could build exactly what you want. You’d get to meet all the top pros and ams and hold contests. Chicks would flock around you. And on top of it, you’d make tons of money and people would give you free product if you let them skate there.
On the other hand, you have to make lease and utility payments for the building every month. Kids punch holes in the walls, spill soda on the ramps, get in fights, steal stuff from the park shop, smoke weed behind the ramps causing the cops to shut you down for two weeks, and sneak in without paying. You never get to skate because you’re always taking care of all the problems. All the chicks that dig you are 13. And even though all the kids complain that you’re charging too much, you can’t seem to even pay the bills, let alone have anything left over to buy a hamburger with. And you had to borrow $80K to build the ramps and now the bank is breathing down your neck wondering where that $2K payment is every month.
Does having an indoor park really work? Sure, it’s great for the kids, but if a park doesn’t make money it can’t stay open for long. I’m going to solicit responses to this from as many park owners as I can get. We’ll see which side of the story is correct, if it’s a combination of the two, or if there are certain things some owners have found that make it work that they can pass on so other owners can keep their parks open.
If you know a park owner, pass this link on to them.
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It takes money and patience
2k payment every month? try 15k.
todd
Skateparks suck to own. Don’t do it unless you are expecting all the worst things that were mentioned above, not to mention:
-Becoming the cheapest baby sitter for every kid in the city whether they actually skate or not.
-Kids parents threatening to sue you for everything you own because little Billy broke his wrist and can’t play hockey
-Getting sick once a month from having sweaty snot nosed kids giving you money from their shoes.
-Working 14 hour days 7 days a week
-Cleaning up after 30 to 60 kids a day (don’t forget the bathrooms)
-Making little to no money, and having no vacations or holidays.
Anyways, owning a skatepark is a lot of fun, but the stress and workload can put a serious damper on it. Moreso in Canada, where the business is so seasonal that it makes it really hard to make ends meet in the summer. All the camps demos and competitions you can dream of don’t pay rent when nobody’s coming out to skate.
Of course everyone would like to have their own park, but do the ups outway the downs? I’ll let you know in a couple of years.
Has anyone ever figured out if the Van’s skateparks were making money? For them – it is almost a marketing writeoff – offering tons of publicity to the name – and their parks are usually paired with successful Vans stores – perhaps that offsets the income loss on the park. I would love to see those numbers if anyone can get a hold of them.
It takes some really savvy business strategy to keep a park running and to get skaters interested by runnning a top-notch facility. Look at Skatopia in Ohio, which is run by Brewce Martin. He’s kept it open for ten years and doesn’t charge a DIME. Sure, you have to work an hour to skate, but you also wonder just how the hell he keeps all 88 acres of it open. Brewce has also been lauded as a business man, even stating that he could run a fortune 500.
Alll crap aside, you also have to remember why you’re opening a park. It’s not about chicks, bucks or self-esteem- but about the skaters’ in the community and their needs.
Does anyone have any words of wisdom for a future skatepark owner? We should be open in six weeks.
Cody Caldwell
Boise indoor bike & skate
We are a group of bmx riders,bladers and skaters,who are fustrated waiting on the city council to provive a skatepark too meet our needs,so much so that we are looking into leasing our own warehouse and running a private facillity.
From a money making aspect. A park would be make more if it was for both skate and bmx. I dont know if its the same in other regions but in northern new jersey theirs a huge bmx scene, but no parks for them to go to which cuts the amount of people who would go in half.
A Skate park is what every %#@$ town need. My $%#@$ town is no exception. Im looking to rent an indoor warehouse and use it as a skatepark but I don’t want to pay insurance. Im sure thier is a clever loophole that someone who has already opend a skatepark figured out.if so, fill us in!:P
Hey Cody, it’s been 5 months …how you doing….i’m due to open in May? Any advise for me?
Just in the process of analyzing the viability of an indoor skate park. We’ve found 2 available places to lease but both are extreme opposites. 1 too expensive(or so we think) and the other a complete dive(but affordable). We already operate a new skateshop and although it is really new, it seems to have huge potential. We were hoping to combine the 2 but really can’t get any idea of how successful these things are. All we ever hear is how one had to close. Are there any words of encouragement? Any advice from experience? Rates? Cheap alternatives for the skate course? We would feel just horrible if this fell through as we put all of our own money into the shop not to mention a few years ago the skaters dealt with the loss of a previous indoor park but as rumour has it, there was no admission fees, no supervision and no management. There was adonation jar and next thing everyone noticed was the owner had a new car and the park closed. I’m not about to find the guy and ask him for advice!
Hi Denise, I haven’t run a park myself but I have known well two sets of people who did. Both had to close down because they weren’t making enough money to keep them open. It wasn’t because the parks weren’t nice, they both were. It wasn’t because of location, one was in a good location, one was in a bad one. It wasn’t because they didn’t advertise the parks well. Every skater within a hundred miles knew about each park. And it wasn’t because there weren’t enough skaters to support the parks, there were more than enough. It wasn’t because they didn’t charge enough, or because they were managed poorly. The simple reason both parks closed down was because there were too many good places to skate in the area that were free. That is, here in Utah, there are a lot of free public skateparks, many of which are quite good, and that means when it comes to skating at the public park that is free or paying $5 to skate at the indoor park, everybody goes to the free park. Unless it’s raining or snowing.
Whenever the weather prevented skaters from going to the public parks the indoor parks were always full. And I mean super full. On a sunny day there might be 2-3 skaters at the indoor park. At the same time on the same day when it was raining there would be 80 skaters at the indoor park. In the summer the indoor park didn’t make anywhere close to enough money to cover their costs. In the winter they generally made enough just to get by.
Perhaps if your park were even cheaper you could get more kids to come. $5 is a lot of money to a 13 year old kid who earns his own money. $2 isn’t so much. Air conditioning in the summer might help. Neither of the parks I know had AC and they were sweltering in the summer, making it worse to skate in them than to skate outdoors. But I think more than anything else the success of a park is going to count on the situation around you. If there aren’t any public parks, that’s a plus for you. If you have long winters and lots of precipitation that will help you out. But if there is a decent public park within 20-30 minutes of where you would put your indoor park I’d say you’re at risk of spending a lot of money and not getting it back.
However, you can also run a skatepark as a loss leader. You lose money on the park, but make money by selling skate product on the premises. The extra profit you make from retail because you’re drawing in more kids because of the skatepark might make up for what you lose running the park and then some, in which case you get the positive cash flow you need.
Anyway, those are my two cents. Best of luck.
Those factors you mentioned are very important. Is an indoor skatepark needed where you are? What’s also important is how are you going to keep the cash flow going to maintain the park. You’re talking capitol to buy the space, construction, maintenance and staff pay, to mention the most important.
I don’t believe admission is enough, or even selling product. You have to diversify the park services AND do what all other indoor venues do- ADVERTISE. Kids might say that it’s selling out, but considering that these same kids pack in their parent’s SUV and head to the local mall to check out the Zumiez couch tour only to be saturated with adverts from major companies (Xbox, Monster, Mountain Dew, etc.), and you don’t hear them wimpering over it. Think of how much revenue is generated from those ads. Think of the X Games.
You have to keep the park open somehow, why not have other companies pay for it? Don’t count on any of the skate companies, apparel or equipment, to shell out anything except product either and don’t hang their banners up in your precious space unless they pay for it. That’s the way the world tumbles and they know it, because they make kids shell out $125 for a deck and $25 for a tshirt with their name on it. Your focus should be on the skaters and making a great, safe place for them to skate.
One last thing, don’t forget that you have to generate excitement- give them one more reason to come skate the park instead of the public places. You can host demos and tours, do rock shows and stage competitions with a nice prize purse that some company might be willing to stake if their name is headlining the event. Then the advertising will begin to pay with all the traffic coming in and out.
Good luck to you.
In about 5 months i plan on getting a decent sized steel building, and starting an indoor skatepark. I have alot of ups on my side being as there arent many local parks, I’d right in the middle of the 4 biggest cities around here, and the only indoor park within 100 miles sucks, cost to much and is always to crowded. And im 25 miles from them, so i figured id draw in any skaters who think that park sucks, and miles from the other direction being as there are no parks.
Whats the insurance deal like? I dont want some little guy tripping over himself and trying to sue me.
I have the building the skatepark part down, but once i have it what does it take to run it??
Contact one of the other park owners that has posted here, or the guys at Cream City Skatepark.
i guess im just another kid that wants to open a park. Im 18 and ive dedicated my last 5 years to a landscaping buissness. Weve gotten alota good breaks and its a pretty safe founkation for a life. Truth is… a skate park has been my dream since 3rd grade. im wondering if i should just wait n save to get my dream started or find a worhty investor. i need to know shich direction i need to go in. do i need to take some kind of college coarses. whats insurance gonna be like. i just realized i didnt explain my situation very well. Im in a very good position to get somthin started. i need guidence. pLeAsE i need a professional. help.
I live in a small rural town and myself and a couple of people are trying to open an indoor skatepark, our town house a small skatepark with wooden ramps that have been built by people in the community. The ramps are all about to fall apart. They are not protected by the weather and the kids don’t really have any place else to skate other than going to another town. I have been asking around and got some really good ideas. Does anyone know of any grants or funds that are available to help open the skatepark or where a good starting place would be? I have found a building (it was an old roller rink).
I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are on an indoor hybrid skatepark. It would be split with a concrete bowl/various transitions and a wood/masonite section with the ability to change the layout. I live in an area that already has two indoor wooden/masonite parks with no flow. Both these parks are about 50-60 miles away. I live in the northeast so the weather is in our favor. The closest concrete park aroumd that I know of is about 2 hrs away and its outdoor. Concrete seems to be were it’s at and to have it indoor in this area I believe would be beneficial.
Concrete is also a lot more expensive and permanent. I’d go with indoor/masonite until you learn the ropes and know what you’re doing. If you’re successful with that, then maybe think about concrete, but I wouldn’t do something so expensive and something that can’t be easily changed until you’re 100% certain of what you’re doing.
hey im from australia my wife and i are thinkin bout opening up an indoor sk8park… can anyone who has or is previously runny a sk8park tell me what kind of cost we’re lookin at to build??
My friend built a decent one for about $50K USD. But that was 2-3 years ago and lumber prices may have changed since then.
ok so i am wondering my birthday is coming up and i wanted to rent out a park in utah. so if anybody knows about a open park in utah, please please please let me know. i know a few people that own indoor parks but they are closed this up coming month. i am an amiture skater [like i hit a 30 foot gap and fingerflipped it. but no biggy]
—thanks
—-swade and justin.
You definitely want to PLAN. Write a strong business plan with worst case and best case scenarios. RESEARCH other skateparks. Call them up; learn/copy the successful ones and avoid the mistakes of the failing ones. You need to sit down and calculate how much to start, how much to live, how much to profit, etc. Additionally, talk to lawyers tha deal with real estate, injuries, contracts, business, accounting and other possible litigations that may be associated with your business.
Just some thoughts to consider.
The SkatePark will not support the business on admissions alone. You must consider having a store offering equip, apparell, expert advise in both saes and instruction. Add to this a nice concession with some hot snacks and a full line of drinks. Keep the skate area separate from the eating area. Hire intelligent staff that are knowledge and friendly. Attitudes kill sales and repeat customers. Offer services such as instruction, birthday parties, zone off times for younger skaters for both safety and raising the fun level for different age groups. Add an area for BMX if possible, thus increasing your potential client base x2.
I’m considering opening a skatepark myself and these are just a few of the points I came up with. I’d be thankful to hear from other folks out there that can expand on this.
Thanks!
Currently i am 18 years old in college getting my busniess administrations degree and I work for a surf/skate shop in Florida. I am good friends with some higher ups in the company i threw the idea to them that i wanted to start my own park and it might be a good investment for the company as well to combine with the park and have their own official skateshop on site. They’re interested in the idea, so i was curious if any other owners thought this was a good idea. Also the only good park within 1-2 hrs is about to close, because i know the owners and they have decided to sell the land, and they were far past succesful. The park was not that great anyways, which is why i believe a park would be a great idea, ecspecially with a better design.
I just wanted any little advice at all. I have always worked in sales and am experienced there, so i already know how seeling product works best. I want to take this investment serious so any advice will help.
The location in my area is great and in need of a good park, so the basics i have already taken in to account. Thanks.
-Kenny
I am 18 and live in a small city with an extremely shoddy skate scene. Its about 17,000 large.
For a school (Grade 12) assignment I am creating a business plan. I decided to do mine on an indoor skatepark because…. Well lets face it, what skater doesn’t want to own their own skate park. Even if we only realize the glamorous parts of it.
My main doubt is if the city will be large enough and if I will have a large enough consumer base… There are not alot of skatespots, nevermind good ones. There is a outdoor skatepark in a bad locaion. It has some ramps, yet they are set up horribly and they aren’t that great. The pyramid is about 1.5-2ft high and is about 15ft long… Its more of a BMX ramp… Most of the ramps in the park are. there is a quite bad grind box and an okay manual pad. Some mediocre QP’s aswell. I think I would have the interest of most of the local skaters, because of the lack of a real skate scene. Yet I don’t know if it would be enough to draw real revenue… I guess my business plan will help me out with that…. Any other tips/ideas anyone could put up here? Someone should write up an online guide with alot of real life examples of how things should be done and should not be done… Put maybe a basic outline of it and some guidelines. Other ways to generate revenue?
Thanks,
Dylan
I am thinking about opening a indoor skate & BMX track in NH. The town that I live in have no skate parks or any bmx tracks. When I go to the store I see alot of kids sakating and BMX in the parking lot. I found a good location to open one up. How do I get started?
Thanks Mike
We are currently looking at several buildings for our new indoor skate park and I would have to agree with what I have read so far, costs are high and so is the amount of money and time needed to start one. Here is where you critically examine the locations and the market to see if it’s even sustainable. If it’s grim like our location, then open it for the other reasons that motivated you to even consider it in the first place.
I don’t expect to make money for at least six month on our park, but that’s not why we are opening one. We will relocate our shop to the same location in hopes that it will have a positive outcome on the parent company, but if it doesn’t at least we will have a bad — powerhouse combo and support the scene and if we make a few while doing it I’ll be even happier.
Chris
You can make money, know how to run a business and you will succeed. A large portion of sales is concessions(35%). My husband and I are opening an indoor park, CAN YOU SAY AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM? Big bucks, help the kids, parents love it. There are tons of successful parks, stay positive.
Thinking about this business. Where do I get info on Insurance and liability? There is nothing in my area, but I’m sure space is very expensive.
I like all of the people that have added to this blog am interested in opening an indoor skate park. My reasons are NOT because I skate, I do not, I would brake my head as I am a mother, grandmother and a concerned citizen. I have a 15 year old who loves to skate. Our good skate parks are several miles away with only a couple of “ok” out door parks close by. I am not rich by any means but this community needs a skate park so the kids have a decent place to skate with supervision. I know that it could be alot of babysitting, but that comes with any business that involves kids. I am looking into grants to supplement. Does anybody have an idea of what it would cost to build a moderate size park indoors?
I’m stilll thinking about it. My area of NJ has high rentals for warehouse space. I still haven’t gotten info on insurance. Can anyone help me on that? I would believe it’s high cost.THere is also a question of how much space is needed say for a medium size indoor area. I see that Becky has the same questions. If she has any info on grants I’d appreciate it. I never thought of grants.
Mike from Nh any luck yet?? What town
Hey, I live in a small town of 10,000 people called Smiths Falls. It’s in a decent location, 40 minutes away from Ottawa and a few hours away from Toronto and Montreal. We have a pretty big arena that is being shut down because of a new one that will be built next summer. I have connections through some people who are pretty tight with the contractors who are building the new arena. So basically, we are going to try and see if we can keep the arena going and turn it into an indoor park. Since it’s obvious that many indoor parks have closed down due to numerous reasons, we’re going to try to split the arena into sections. One section could be the park and a skate shop (which we have and are looking to change locations), another could be a stage and different gigs, and another could be a gymnasium. This is going to be a long and hard process to get going but we’ll see how things play out. Does anyone have any advise that would be helpful to getting this thing started and to sustain it for a long time?
I hope I can offer some advice here. I am about to open my 12,000 SF skatepark in February 2009. I am a skater of 20+ years. I currently own a Pawn Shop and I am integrating my park and business together. I recently purchased a metal and mortar building 14,000 SF building for 200k. My mortagage payments are around $1400.00 per month. THis will house my current pawnshop and my skatepark in the remaining 12k SF space. I will build a 120′ wall to seperate the two businesses. The park is 90% complete and I spent a total of $7,000.00 in wood. Yes 7k and this is what it consists of. 4.5′x12′ mini half pipe,9′x20′ Vert wall, 4-5’split levelx16′ quarter,
16′bank/flat/bank with half pyramid and hubba, 4×8’spine, 24′x24′ banked platform with eurogap, 6 stair w/ rail, hubba, and ledges and various manny pads and ledges throughout. All these ramps are covered in beautiful BIRCH. I bought all my wood at Lowes. I used Subflooring for all the transistions and initial plys on most all of the ramps cost$6.00-10.00 each. Theres another park in the area that used the same wood and its been around for 6 years and the stuff is still there and strong. top it with plywood and finish it with 1/8″-1/4″ Birch. 7k including 11gauge steel toeplates on all pieces. We did all the work ourselves so that saved cost as well. Most of our team and friends helped in return to skate free anytime the park is open. The other park in our area pays $3800 per month in lease and is the same size.
It has been in business for 6 years going through a few owners.
So My suggestion is to buy your building because mortgages are way lower than leasing in general, secondly you are paying toword owning the property instead of throwing it away just to exist there. I just got my insurance quote back today from Heffernan Insurance Group (Los Angeles) $1000.00 per year for a liability policy for 1 million 2 million aggregate. I highly recommend them. I do not have to require helmets through them. (under 18 I will) That will bring the stokage factor up a bit not req helmets. Waivers are a must through them. I didnt carry out a policy on my skateshop inventory because I already have coverage for that through another company. Liability/Medical is req and only costing me 1k per yr.
We Will be charging $5 Tues-Thur 10am – 9pm and $8 Fri-Sun 10am – 12am midnight.
Keeping longer hours ensures a good turnout because some people work evening jobs get off work and like to hit up a sesh or two afterwards. $2 helmet rentals for people that wish to use them. 18+ it is optional to wear them in our park and that alone makes the difference.
I would also like to add that our park is Heated and Air Conditioned that too will play in your favor vs competition and getting the people in there in the summers when turnout is low due to nice weather/free parks in the area.
I wiggled myself into a win/win situation because I currently pay $3700.00 to lease out my current pawn shop location so moving to our newly purchased building is saving me $2300.00 per month instantly and not to mention I get 5000 more Square Feet! So the park is a bonus its mainly for our team but the public is surely welcome. So if you can attach it to another business if you can the more services/products you can sell along with your park the better. I love when the kids come to my current location, but them a complete deck and the mother walks over to our jewelry counter and purchases a $600 diamond ring. Or if your low on cash, gather up a few dvd’s or cd’s and cash them in at the pawn shop and walk right into the warehouse of the skatepark and pay your way in, its win/win.
I know different areas breed different circumstances, competition, people, prices etc. I live in West Virginia 5 miles from the capital Charleston (250k ppl in the general metro area)theres one other indoor park and a free outdoor metal park 2 skateshops in there area besides me. Just from skateshop sales I do pretty good so this park will be the topping on the cake. Good luck to all opening or planning to open, If you contact me I’ll try to help in any way I can. pawnshopskateboards@hotmail or catch us on myspace.com/pawnshopskateboards
We are in the process of building an indoor Sports Arena for family orientd activities.
We offer 2 indoor paintball arenas, video arcades, childrens jump stations (moon walk, ball pits and bounce area) indoor black light miniature golf, 2 indoor electric go cart tracks ( 1 age 4 to 10 and 1 age 10 up ), indoor laser tag, and would like to add an indoor skate park.
We are seeking additional capital, grants or investors to get this underway. We own our property of 110000 sq ft and we have a good location on a us highway in Illinois. Any recomendations, help, or feedback would be highly appreciated.
Is anyone willing to post net profit for an indoor skatepark with a proshop and concessions?
There’s a ton of great advice on this topic. The majority say open a shop and sell concessions, which I would highly agree with- depending on where you live and your market and surrounding demographic. I’m in Chicago, so my demographic is going to be mainly middle to low income kids with a spattering of upper middle class kids. This translates into lots of kids with very little to no money and some kids with loads. So, charging $5-$8 for admission and $5 for a pizza combo will not pay the bills, nor will a skate shop (as I’m sure they break pretty even), especially in the high value market that is Chicago. It could, in a more affluent suburb or small town where real estate is plenty and reasonable; again, it depends on your demographic and this where market research comes in to play. There are two Chicago area (suburbs) skateparks that do well- Warp in Woodstock and Krush in Tinley Park. The questions are, who are your clients? Will they have the economic means to patronize your park and shop, generating enough cash flow to sustain it?
Most any large space here, especially old warehouses and factories are either converting to residential or commercial retail lease space, making it slim pickin’s for a skatepark. This is the biggest challenge I’ve been facing for two years now. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a need to be more business savvy and have other avenues of revenue, such as advertising. This could help in many of your financial situations and help in reducing admission prices. Do write a business plan and get a team that will help you plan and run the park- business professionals, administrative talents and go-getters that believe in what you are doing; and you can’t do it alone. Intentions are well and good, but do nothing if you don’t have some sort of plan well written and thought out.
Best of luck to all of you out there; keep us posted on your progress!
Skateboarding forever!
FOR ROGER MASA would you consider a relocation to operate a skate park in Illinois? We are located 90 miles south of Chicago. We would draw from local patrons as well as area of 25 miles which include Watseka, Danville, Lafayette In, and several smaller communities. We are offering the local business groups a chance to advertise on a 4 x 8 sign in our building for a fee of 100.00 per month or discount price by the year. We have a very large facility and can advertise about 150 business signs monthly. The advertising alone, will cover most of the overhead except payroll.
We want to start an indoor skate-park and would like some information regarding it. Where do we start…We have a few ideas started, but don’t know where to go from there.
Examples-
How much is insurance and who do you contact to get information on it?
Is it better/cheaper to build your own ramps or buy them already built?
How do you get your company sponsored…Not by local companies, but larger companies?
What is the best way to advertise your new park?
Who do you get grants from if you want grants?
Is it better to get grants, loans, or a credit card?
Any information would help…Like I said we have a bunch of ideas but we would like some help from people who have been there before or know people who have!
Thank you for your time and thanks for the great advice already given!
Heffernan Insurance Group – Los Angeles gave me a great quote!
Thanks!!
What is the best place overall, including quality and price, to get all of the ramps for a complete indoor skatepark?
In resonse to BBSA-
Thanks for your offer, but it’s my vision to have one in the city as skaters here don’t have an indoor option. Since good weather for skating is minimal, there has to be an option other than the outdoor public parks (there are two okay ones and another concrete park under the interstate on it’s way).
I want to promote skateboarding and nothing else, so having one in the city means more team demos, pro and am contests that will get the young populace excited about it. That’s what’s kept it alive, seeing pros come to your town and throwing down a jam in front of a crazy crowd of kids. I remember The Firm/Flip FEAST demo I went to in the suburbs at an indoor park (I won’t mention any names), but it was chaos. There just wasn’t enough space to fit everybody and a lot of young people were turned away and those that made it in were treated like trash. That just wasn’t cool.
Sound like you guys should just go ahead and start one. I don’t know your motives to do so, but I assume it’s to give skaters a legitimate skatepark and not just to make money.
For you other people looking for info, start with skatepark.org. They can get you going with starting a free public park and then there’s spausa.org that has a lot of resources for a privately owned park. Good luck and keep skating alive.
Is it legal to raise money to start a private skatepark business? like brat frys and special events etc…
I have read the comments posted here and have a question – a couple of posters mention that having a business plan is a good idea. Yep, that makes a lot of sense. Is anyone aware of a template or existing business plan that can be repurposed? I’m in California, and real estate is expensive. I’m guessing you have to charge admission and sell a lot of hot dogs and decks to break even. I’d just like to know if anyone has done a thorough business school level analysis of the costs and cash flow. I don’t own a pawn shop.
I am considering this idea as a business venture. Not to get rich, but it does need to be profitable.
Interesting that skate lab in Simi Valley is still going after 10 years, but I have heard that skatelab in florida is closed or closing. Any insight there?
If anyone is a qualified consultant with a successful track record of running a park, or in obtaining funding for a park, I would like to hear from you. Thanks, and sk8 on.
Chris, the best way would to be to go over to Skatelab and see what they did to get started. The reason you would need a plan is that you need to have capitol to build a park and that can only be done through a business loan, however, you need to show them your plan which would convince them that your idea is profitable enough for you to payback that loan. The plan would entail your general idea for the venture, costs (materials, real estate, utilities, staff, tax, state fees, licenses, insurance, et al) sources of revenue and cash flow projection (e.g., admission costs, merchandise, food items).
Sounds overwhelming, but this is where doing your homework comes in. If you can, team up with someone you know who is good at statistics and finances to help you out. Don’t worry, there are actually some out there who aren’t a bunch of stiff necks and would like to help you see you get your dream off the ground. Go to a local business school and see if any of their grads would like to help you or see the state small business association.
Here’s a site to get you started with forms: http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html
Good luck and I hope you’re successful at giving skaters a place to call home.
First Off Anyone on The East Coast or traveling through the Scranton,PA area….Make sure to stop by UNDERWOOD SKATEPARK. We are here for the skaters…Plain and Simple. Check it out http://www.myspace.com/underwoodskatepark .
I have read alot of things on here that make sense, do not make sense, and things I have experienced good and bad already. The #1 option to make your skatepark succeed is “DONT GIVE UP”, if you want it, then keep at it. You will not get rich owning a park. If you need a park to get laid, then Ill add your name to the state pedophile board because most of your clientele is under age. It cost money to make money, organize and plan ahead for those spring/summer months because money will be tight then. If you can find reliable people/companies to help you then try that but be prepared to stand alone and do it yourself in the end. Other than that Owning an indoor skatepark is the bomb and we will rep the wood until the end. Check the park out and if we can ever help you, let us know.
yoooo dudes…im workin on a project for school and i have to “spend” a million dollars…im wondering if i should “buy” a building and make it an indoor skate park or if i should make an out door one.im thinking indoor cuz i can have concessions and a skate shop….im also wondering if i would have enough to buy a building or at least rent it…..help wud be nice
A lot to take in. I am in the beginning process of deciding if an indoor sk8park is a good business. One of my biggest questions is everyone refers to skateboarding and BMX, what about scooters. Are they a giving or should they not be in the same category. I have three boys and all their friends scoot. I believe the area in which we live could sustain this type of venue.
Chris S: where in California are you from?
I’m thinking a great place to open an indoor skatepark would be a decent sized mountain town. that has alot of the local gnarly riders and skiiers that skate in the summer. like someone earlier had said, “who wants to go pay for the indoor skatepark unless theres bad weather” i’ve lived in mountain towns for years and you can really only skate like maybe 80 or 90 days a year because everything is covered with snow. not to mention all the tourist that might come through. good idea? bad idea?
Yo Preston L. that is exactly what I have been looking into. What towns/cities do you suggest? I can tell you that the feedback i am getting from North East and New England Mountain towns is negative, NO MONEY they say. I’d like to move up NORTH (Vt, NH, NY, ME) or Out west (CO,WA,OR,UT) but I am unfamiliar out west about areas that NEED a park and where one would be used and sucessful. If anyone knows of a sick spot for a killer skatepark to be built get back to me. Srguws@aol.com
-Good Luck to everyone.
im have a great spot for a park. it will be indoor and there are no other skateparks around (indoor or out). i talk to a builder and im looking at about 210k the rent about 87k or less a year. does any body think i will make that back in a area with about 100k people with nothing else to do. i mean not even an arcade!
Hey Ahmad,
It’s going to cost you more than just the rent. There’s operation costs, such as heat, electricity, then, any license or taxes fees your local, state and federal government might add on as you will be registered as a business. Then you have to pay yourself and your staff.
You have to estimate how many people are going to skate the park. I’m guessing not all 100,000 residents will, so you’d have to do some research. To give you an idea, if you had an average of fifty admissions per day at $7 per admission multiplied by 350 days out of the year, your annual gross will be $122,500. That’s not enough, so you’d have to either (or both) get more customers, sell concessions, have a skate shop and have summer skate camps; whatever your lessor will allow.
Sorry to have such bleak news, but that’s the reality of it. I do believe it’s possible, just takes a lot of time and effort. I wish you success for the sake of skateboarding.
And 50 admissions per day might be overly optimistic. My friend ran the only indoor skatepark in an area that had a population of over a million, and the only days he got over 50 admissions were the days when it was raining/snowing outside. On sunny days his park would be empty because of all the public (free) parks. It’s hard to compete with free.
Yeah dont count on 50 peeps per day! Not happening I dont care which park you own. Plan for those empty days they happen very often. Your best bet would be to incorporate everything you can think of that will support your park. (skateshop, concession, vending, Bands, Skate comps, demos, video premieres, lessons, b-days, etc.) Even doing all that, its still a hustle, GOOD LUCK. Maybe its better to support the existing indoor skateparks and instead of hitting the bandwagon like so many others. Today its 3:46pm we only have 15 people right now and I plan for 20. I wish anyone best of luck but dont do it for the money, you will FAIL! Do it because you love skating and the numbers and support will keep it open.
Come hit Underwood Skatepark anytime………We appreciate the support!!!
Sarge has good input because he actually runs a park. Maybe you guys should connect and you could help Ahmad with the details. I don’t think he’s in it to get rich, he just wants to keep the park open and there’s nothing wrong with being a little business minded so you can do that, otherwise one will fail.
The 50 per day was nothing more than a model so he can see some actual figures and then take it for himself from there.
Let’s help each other out; if you have experience with this sort of thing, don’t just comment, be proactive and give some practical help as to what someone can do and how to go about doing it. That’s what this thread is all about. Thanks to all that have and do support Underwood if you’re in the area or your local skate parks/shops.
Peace!
I will tell you this…WORD OF MOUTH is the best advertisement for a park but a great nasty website will definitely help. I will also be the 1st to tell you I am almost computer illiterate, but Im learning. So make sure you can get someone to help you with a site. That being said, if anyone can help ME with making a killer site then please get in touch because I NEED it and definitely will appreciate it and repay the help. Now Go Skate Your face OFF!
Underwoodsk8park@aol.com
Well as i read through all these posts, the results seem grim. But as it seems to be the story, i’m just another person looking into starting a park. I was wondering if there were any kind of grants from the state or city that i could look into for funding. We have a decent Skating/Biking scene here that keeps growing but we have one public park that sucks bad. So i’m looking into getting something started with a few friends to help so i’m not in this all alone. I have a few ideas where to start but I am doing my homework before i jump into anything. So any advise or help would be awesome!
Chase
Well where are you looking to do this park? How big? What do you plan on doing to pay the rent? Its smart not to jump in it, work something up on paper. BUSINESS PLAN and Estimates of Costs and what you expect to make would be helpful. ITS A STRUGGLE but if you are legit you can do it. Dont quit the day job though. Get back to me if you have any direct questions.
Could anyone give me some insite on maybe starting a skate shop before embarking on the skatepark. I think that establishing the store to help support the park might be the way to go. Any help would be great.
Any buisness will be profitable w/ the right person running it, I see a lot of young people here posting things like; “It has been my dream to open a park since I was a kid” who are all of you kids kidding!!!! You are 18yrs. old, you have absolutely NO LIFE experience in the work force, maybe 3 years. You 18yr. olds are like Barrack Obama, He never pulled a private paycheck, and that is why he doesn’t care if he is stealing from the “rich” and redistributting the wealth, which will only crush us all as a whole. The “rich” are the ones who fund investments, create jobs, and pick up the slack of the poor. And that is why w/ someone w/ NO EXPERIENCE, should NEVER take a BOLD move like opening a skate park or trying to become president. Take time to work at something you enjoy for now and obtain some REAL LIFE experiences. This will help you live and learn, Unless you go to college and apply yourself towards business management and maybe a marketing degree, people work very hard to reach and obtain goals. And that is what is expected out of a fresh out of high school kid.
I own a park in the N.E, and it is bangin’ and it came w/ extremely hard work and dedication, it took roughly 1 1/2 yrs. until doors were ready to open. I’m 31, and before I opened the park I owned a Construction company for 9yrs. and the 1st 3yrs. were hard, I started w/ stripping and roofing houses, then deck building, then small additions & basement remodels, and finally to the point of building house—NOT for the homeowners but for the open markets for sale. This is where I mean you NEED TO START YOUR LIFE, before going into this venture. I’M NOT trying to discourage any1, but you will fall if you are not ready to roll w/ the BIG BOYS (business men).
YES A PARK IS PROFITABLE!!!!!!!!! However, who is running it? A kid or a well informed business person? I hope you think twice before jumping into this venture.
ONE MORE THING—-It takes lots of $$$$$$MONEY$$$$$$, I put a 1/2 a milllion into ours. I can’t stop you from going thru w/it, But all I can say from 1 person who loves the industry to the next is; GOOD LUCK!!!!!! always be on the defensive end, EXPECT THE WORST & HOPE FOR THE BEST, any figures you come up w/ cut them in half. NOT FOR the expenses though, add half.
ROGER MASA hit me up trying to do big things in chicago looking for help tho . to all you that wanna do the same thing keep your head up and keep the ideas coming gotta think positive
What’s up Alex? What are you thinking about? Email me at rmasa@ameritech.net
This is for roger masa- it won’t be too long before I get out of high school an start out on my own. I can’t think of any other way to continue with my passion of skateboarding than to run or at least work directly with a skatepark that’s truely devoted to simply promote kids to skate. Cause as a little kid park owners and employees were the koolest guys in the world . They spent all of their time money and effort trying to make a better place for all us skateboardrs to do their thing.im speaking out to you because I’ve lived and grew up around the Chicago skate scene and I know how hard it is for kids that lived near or even in the city to have nowhere to skate because of poor parks or wether it’s just the dead of winter because it’s just so cold outside that their bearings froze over. I just want to help you in any way possible to make this dream a reality to so please message back I’m very interested on any plans you’ve made so far.
Some developments on the Chicago indoor park. I spoke with a good friend who’s a native Chicagoan that had skated when he was younger. He’s in real estate development and currently works for a large commercial real estate firm as one of the top dogs in the company. I asked him point blank how realistic it is to run an indoor park with a live music venue and he thought it was very doable because of the need for one and that it would be a niche’ in the developments going on right now. He told me I was correct in being able to fund the initial cost and the operating costs via advertising. We discussed other options to maintain a cash flow too other than charging a ridiculous fee, which I can’t get into details, but the biggest obstacle right now is getting the land.
I always wanted to outright own the land and structure so that we could do with the park as we pleased, design-wise and other considerations. My friend said that was the way to go so that you also don’t get evicted because of a bad real estate deal or the owner decides to sell the land and bolt for some other opportunity. As far as land costs, rates are down now and will stay this way for at least another year; also the City of Chicago has been known to actually give away properties they own if nothing is being done with it or if a community centered facility wishes to plant down. If they don’t give it away, they could offer it cheap too. My friend is rubbing shoulders with some local Aldermen and will be asking around for me. How freakin’ gnarly is that?
The next step right now is to gather investors to foot a $200,000 start so that a loan can be approved for building. My friend will do the footwork for finding a lot that is big enough and accessible to public trans. Once we get the funding, we’d court architects that would be able to design a structure that would accommodate a modular park ( we do want to mix it up once and a while, don’t we?) and entertainment facility. Once we find an architect that could accommodate our needs, then we would contract the park designers (I’m leaning on Team Pain for this because of their legacy to do the impossible), and all the vendors that would take part in making the park design materialistic.
Allin all, this could take 2-3 years. I’m willing to see this come to fruition and will sweat blood and tears to see it happen and am ready to fight for it. I’m stoked that I’m finding some good people to help out on the business side who aren’t in it for the money, but desire to see a dream come true and believe me, I’m pretty damn picky. Thank you to all who are offering to volunteer too. I’ll keep you posted on what’s going on as it happens and will call on some of you at some point to be a part of this project. Keep skating and keep skating alive! Peace!
this blog is gold! thanks for posting everyone. I’m here in central michigan with a pretty small population but a college and many skaters. I’m just being selfish and thinking about winter coming and wanting an indoor skatepark to go skate in the winter. but I know all the other skaters around would be super stoked with an indoor park. I think the city should provide one, they saw a need for the outdoor park, did they think we don’t need to skate in the winter? Well, I called a guy at Parks and Rec and he basically said the city feels like it has provided enough for riders.
Reading through this thread, I thought about other sports like climbing and surfing have the Access Fund and the Surfrider Foundation. Organizations that work to protect areas in which people do those sports. If there isn’t something like that for skateboarding and other forms of riding there should be. We should pool our resources as a community and get more terrain built and maintained. I appreciate what Tony Hawk is doing with his foundation but we could be more organized as a group of people with common interests and do more to promote those interests. I guess it starts with supporting your local shop or your local indoor park, but for me, if that means supporting the oil companies (ie driving 40 miles) its tough.
Well, I’m just seeing this empty sprawl mart here in town and can’t stop thinking about doing power slides on that polished concrete floor.
I live in the KC metro area. Right now I am working on writing up a business plan for an indoor skatepark. Can anyone help me out with estimating the monthly costs of maintaining one? Things like payroll, heating/cooling costs, insurance, lighting, and any other utilities. This would help me out a lot.
Great thread – lots of info in here…
I too am in the “pencil to paper” phase of considering an indoor park. I’m definitely going to do the research before committing to ANY project! Obviously it’s a tough business to make money in, but is *anyone* out there making a living from a private park?
A few advantages that I feel that I have – I’ve been “in the industry” for the past 10 years so I have lots of connections (which could hopefully help to bring demos, decent brands for a pro shop, promote, etc.), I grew up in the restaurant industry (another notoriously tough biz to make a living in and I think I can run a good little concession business) and I want to put my park near a destination ski resort (small town, over a million visitors each year, the closest park is in a city 60 miles away and there is only one park there).
Anyone else take advantage of a local snow shred scene? Seems like the kiddos might want to get away to skate after a few days of snow (especially during bad conditions) and there is a lot of crossover between the sports.
Any thoughts or other resources would be appreciated.
Thinking of opening a small park in a county with aprox. 150,000 people. We get alot of rain in or region and the nearest indoor parks are 100 miles away. I would like to talk with anyone that has owned/operated any parks that were in the 2000sq ft. range. Anybody know of any still running or not. Also if you grew your park from a small op to a monster I would love to pick your brain.
All responses greatly appreciated and if I gain some knoledge I will diffinatly repay the favor in the future.
Thanks!
Ok here is the ultimate place for an indoor skate park NYC. Cost are high but demand is even higher I think there is two indoor facility in Brooklyn … yes there is a lot of free parks but that’s were the weather factor comes in. who thinks ill make it or not?
For those that have inquired about getting information on costs and other demographics to run a skatepark, the best way is to call up a successful skatepark that is in operation and talk to the owner. They’ve been through the ropes and could tell you best. Go to skatepark.org and look up some in your state. Good luck!
I’ve just started the official ball rolling on an indoor skatepark in my city about to have the wharehouse within the next week. The question is, did anybody have to get a permit from any of their municipalities to build the ramps? Any help would be great.
Thats cool. Where is the park located hopefully east coast so we can skate it. I didnt have to get any permits to build but you better explain what you are doing first and ask what needs to be done to get there, its always best to have a good lawyer do the talking also.
Joe-nyc park
Joe good luck I always thought of it, but do not think the money is there unless you have major sponsors backing you. I hope you accomplish it though.
As for a NEW Indoor in Upstate NY, VT, ME, NH- If anyone is interested in starting something or looking into one, please hit me up. I have been wanting to move to one of the above to open a new park.