If you are
looking for a fun venue for team building, Xtreme Action Park awaits. Want an
adrenaline rush? Compete with your coworkers on a half-mile go-kart track.
Want something intellectually challenging? Try solving puzzles to get out of an
escape room.
There are
also bowling, a ropes course and a bar where you can banter about the
experience. There’s plenty of event space, ranging from conference rooms to a
roller rink that can transform into a 2,000-person gathering place.
Xtreme’s
location is strong for corporate events since the Fort Lauderdale Uptown area
employs 70,000 people. Xtreme is a pioneer in what’s called the “Envision
Uptown” movement. A 2014 Urban Land Institute study says the area near
Commercial Boulevard and Cypress Road has a good population density but needs
to transform into more of a live/work/play neighborhood. Xtreme definitely fits
the definition of play.
Behind
Xtreme are three partners who each brought something to the table:
• Michael
Dezer calls himself the real estate guy. He started collecting buildings in New
York and found great success in Sunny Isles Beach by doing projects with Donald
Trump and collaborating with The Related Group. He’s also a notable car
collector, which is reflected in his family’s new Porsche Design Tower in Sunny
Isles Beach.
• Aaron
Parkinson is a technology guru and serial entrepreneur who found success in the
wastewater treatment field and has developed the electric Golf Skate Caddy and
Fiik Skateboards.
• David
Goldfarb is literally the fun guy, as he owns PrimeTime Amusements. He started
out with a couple of pool tables in his fraternity house and now operates more
than 2,000 arcade games, including cutting-edge models found at Xtreme.
So how did they
come together?
Goldfarb’s
company was a supplier to Xtreme Go Kart before the latter closed and also had
provided games for Dezer’s Miami Auto Museum in North Miami. He told Dezer
about the 340,000-square-foot building going on the auction block back in 2014
and Dezer won the bid.
They
converted part of the building into office condominiums. Bekins Van Lines took
110,000 square feet and Goldfarb took 20,000 square feet for his business. Then
Goldfarb became involved in the roughly 125,000-square-foot first phase of
Xtreme, which kept and overhauled the go-kart track. Dezer owns about 80,000
more square feet, which includes the museum with his cars and a trampoline
park, which is a tenant.
This month,
Goldfarb was scheduled to open a 24,000-square-foot sports performance training
center called Hard Knocks 365 Inside Xtreme Action Park.
He expects
many mixed martial arts and professional athletes to use the gym and has lined
up three trainers, who will be owner-operators: Henri Hooft, a top professional
trainer for martial arts fighters; Mario Sperry, a top jiujitsu coach; and Tony
Villani, whose XPE Sports in Boca Raton is a top performance-training site for
NFL players and collegians preparing for the draft.
There’s
synergy among Xtreme’s individual elements. For example, Goldfarb expects
Xtreme to get exposure when sports networks cover big-name athletes training
there. There also will be some crossover activity because some football players
enjoy mixed martial arts and some MMA players want performance training.
“What’s
unique is it will fall under one roof here,” Goldfarb says.
The partners
were encouraged by the success of the first phase of Xtreme, which included the
go-kart track, bowling, the arcade, a
ropes course and Bazooka Ball, a combat game with elements of laser tag and
paintball. They managed to double their initial forecast for revenue. The
second phase included leasing out space for the trampoline park, doubling the
arcade space and opening the museum, roller-skating rink and the escape rooms.
Dezer said
he was attracted to the building by its sheer size. “Everything I do, I like to
do big,” Dezer says. He needs a lot of space for his growing car collection.
However, the attractions part of the business has done so well that Dezer says
his attitude is less about car museum space and more about games.
Dezer, who
also owns 15 acres of land in Las Vegas, said his love of cars goes back to
when he was a teenager in Israel and he got into trouble once for taking a spin
in a car that wasn’t his. Among his earliest purchases were a Vespa scooter, a
Harley Davidson motorcycle and a 1949 Plymouth. After being a paratrooper in
the Israeli armed forces, he moved to Queens.
