CRANSTON – A top executive from Lincoln-based R1 Indoor Karting Inc. has acquired a large industrial building on Mill Street, where part of the facility will become TimeZone’s new headquarters.
TimeZone, an entertainment affiliate of R1 Indoor Karting, is a unique time machine-type game room indoor recreation experience that opened its first location at R1 on April 1, 2021. The 5,300-square-foot entertainment experience adjacent to the go-kart track features 25 rooms called portals, where each portal represents a different time period, and tests players on both their mental and physical skills.
According to a tweet Friday from MG Commercial Real Estate Services Inc., R1 Indoor Karting co-owner Mike Hezemans purchased a 114,036-square-foot building at 180 Mill St. from Mill Ventures LLC for $775,000, with the sale closing on July 1.
Pieter Martens, the former R1 Indoor Karting CEO who is the founder and CEO of TimeZone, confirmed Friday to Providence Business News that a portion of 180 Mill St. will house TimeZone’s headquarters where employees will develop new game and room concepts, and house company offices.
TimeZone spokesperson Paul Garcia said Friday the company is currently occupying 11,000 square feet in its new building with its workshop. That workshop, Garcia said, could grow to as much as 30,000 square feet once construction plans are finalized. The workshop itself, which produces most of TimeZone’s games and components, is moving from The Netherlands to Rhode Island into its headquarters building, Garcia said.
“It will bring in new jobs,” Garcia said.
In addition to having about 20 to 25 new full-time employees work out of the new location, Martens also said he is speaking with the New England Institute of Technology in the hopes the college and other local schools can assist the company in various ways to develop new games for rooms at the headquarters. Garcia said he’s currently defining what and who will be involved with the new school-based program at TimeZone.
“The rooms are all modular, so it’s a quick buildup,” he said. “Then, we can work with schools and artists groups to create new games from scratch.”
With TimeZone’s headquarters taking up a portion of the building, the rest of it will be leased to other entities needing that large space, Martens said, and it will be fully operational next year.
However, Garcia said the building has been unoccupied since 1986, and “a lot of work” needs to be done on it before it’s fully operational. Hezemans said one portion of the building is being “completely renovated” that could be used for storage or stock but it’s still being determined what its use will be. Other repairs the building needs include a new roof, new fire sprinklers and other fire safety measures, and new electrical and heating, Hezemans said.
“So, it’s a lot of work [to repair them]. I really want to do this work in the summer so that it’s ready for the winter,” Hezemans said.
TimeZone is also expanding beyond Rhode Island borders. Martens said TimeZone’s first out-of-state location is currently being built at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, N.Y. He also said there are “several other” TimeZone locations and partners who will own and operate them along the East Coast.
“From Florida all the way to Boston, we’re talking to several people to [own] TimeZones,” Martens said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
