Ax throwing, indoor golf, rock concerts and events center coming to Door County

STURGEON BAY - Door County first ax throwing lanes, second indoor golf simulator facility and sole rock concert hall are part of a new restaurant and entertainment development that would make use of a mostly vacant building and, along with a planned neighboring hotel, hopefully bring more life to a busy corridor in the city.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday, Aug. 16, for Door County Sandbox and Door County Gala, both of which will take up about 21,000 square feet of the 29,000-square-foot former Pamida store building at 1023 Egg Harbor Road. Construction is expected to finish in November with the food, drink, games and events starting in December.

That comes on the heels of the Sturgeon Bay City Council approving an amended agreement the night before to pay $1.2 million in incentives over a 15-year period toward the development of a four-story, 62-room Cobblestone Hotel at Egg Harbor Road and 12th Avenue, next door to the new activities and events center.

The city and Cobblestone, a Neenah-based national hotel chain, reached a agreement for the same total amount in February but the payment terms were changed because the hotel was facing increased material and labor costs. It and Door County Sandbox and Gala are in one of the city's tax incremental districts (TIDs), so property taxes collected there down the road will be used to repay the city.

The new projects and existing Virlee Gunworks Shooting Center, immediately next to the activities and events center at 1019 Egg Harbor Road, will form the basis of what the property owners, 1023 Egg Harbor LLC, are calling Door County Boardwalk. It's meant to stand as a year-round games, entertainment and gathering destination, said Tammy Estes, co-owner with her husband, Steve Estes, and Scott and Rene Virlee.

"It's going to be fun," Tammy Estes said. "The community really needs something like this. On a rainy day, there's very few places where a family can go just to have fun."

On one side of the building, Door County Sandbox will be the bar/restaurant and games part of the project. Besides the food and drink, it will feature the first ax throwing lanes on the Peninsula − the nearest opportunities to launch axes at a target currently are in the Green Bay area − and four golf simulators, making it the second such facility in the county after Golf 'n More in Egg Harbor. All games in the Sandbox are digital games.

Additionally, two of the golf simulators can change to offer different virtual sports, including baseball, hockey, soccer and even cornhole.

On the other side, Door County Gala will take up about 12,000 square feet to offer space for reunions, weddings, gatherings and meetings of all sizes, with the restaurant kitchen and bar able to provide food and drink for them.

It also looks to bring in live entertainment including general admission, no-seating concerts by national touring rock bands who generally aren't booked at the county's other concert halls, similar to the classic, metal, glam and indie rockers who play the Epic Event Center in Ashwaubenon. In fact, Tammy Estes said she hopes to encourage acts playing at the Epic Center to book a date at Door County Gala as long as they're in the area.

"This venue is going to be spectacular," Estes said. "There will be lots of entertainment, lots of opportunities for people to come together year-round, in winter."

Madeline Estes, Steve and Tammy's daughter, is in charge of running the Sandbox and Gala. She said about 60 employees will be needed for the new businesses.

The back of the building housing Door County Sandbox and Door County Gala also is home to Sure Store Storage, a climate-controlled storage rental business opened by Steve Estes in 2018. He said that is remaining in place and has separate parking and entrance.

Sturgeon Bay Community Development director Marty Olejniczak said it's exciting to see this development and the approval of the hotel agreement move ahead. They bring potential destination businesses to an otherwise quiet part of high-traffic Egg Harbor Road, and the games and events center makes full use of a large, long-closed Pamida building. Virlee Gunworks on the property also occupies a long-closed retail building, a Save a Buck grocery store that changed into an Econo Foods and moved in the 1990s and was used for storage by yacht manufacturer Palmer Johnson and partially by a landscaping business until the gun shop and range opened in July 2021.

"I think it's enormous," Olejniczak said. "This is the heart of Egg Harbor Road, our workhorse road for business. After having this whole quadrant dead for years, it's coming back. This ties right in to making this an activated corner again."

And, Scott Virlee and Steve Estes said more space remains to develop on the property or grow the existing and coming businesses.

"We're just trying to develop the whole area," Virlee said. "This is just the next stepping stone."

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Ax throwing, indoor golf, concert and events center coming to Door County