Bistro, Bowling, Bocce” may not sound like a normal night out ”” and that”™s just what Dale Schwartz is counting on.
Schwartz is the founder and CEO of Pinstripes, the dining and entertainment concept based in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, whose motto is mentioned above. Pinstripes is wrapping construction on its first location in the Northeast at the SoNo Collection, the $525 million, 717,000-square-foot megamall set to open in Norwalk on Oct. 11. Schwartz”™s operation is looking at a November opening.
Since its founding in 2006, Pinstripes has opened 10 locations around the country, with Norwalk being one of three newly announced sites.
Schwartz said the ultimate aim is “having over a hundred in the U.S. over the next number of years.”
The SoNo location joins two others opening as part of a deal giving real estate company Brookfield Property Partners a minority equity interest in Pinstripes: at Streets at Southpoint in Durham, North Carolina (scheduled for completion in 2021) and at Halley Rise in Reston, Virginia (which will open “2022-ish,” Schwartz said). Pinstripes already had a location within Brookfield”™s portfolio, at the Oakbrook Center outside of Chicago.
Both Schwartz and Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of Brookfield Properties and vice chairman of Brookfield Property Group, said Pinstripes”™ combination of dining and entertainment plays to the growing trend of creating “experiential,” rather than simply “dining” or “retail” environments.
“There are not a lot of new ground-up malls being built,” Schwartz noted. “And we”™ve been looking for markets where there”™s an attractive residential market with an appreciation of quality and a deep, broad corporate base.” That SoNo has attracted such tenants as Apple and Bloomingdale”™s was also a factor, he said.
In anticipation of its expansion plans, Pinstripes hired Susan Walmesley, formerly vice president of marketing with Topgolf, as its chief marketing officer, and Rob Hense, former head of real estate at both Apple and Crate & Barrel, as its chief development officer.
Schwartz ”” whose resume includes being the founder and president of D&J Sealcoating Inc. (1979-88); chief financial officer of Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, now Sirna Therapeutics (1991-96) and co-founder and co-CEO of Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy at the turn of the century ”” said he came up with the concept in the late ”™80s when he worked in the private equity sector.
“There was a bowling alley at 74th and Broadway in Manhattan that we”™d all go to after work,” he said. “I had the name Pinstripes, denoting both a bowling pin and an upscale suit, pretty early on but never had the chance to use it.”
That opportunity came about 14 years ago, he said, “when I decided that life”™s too short and stepped down from Pharmaca, and spent the next two years putting the pieces together to start Pinstripes.”
Schwartz said he expects to host close to 2,000 events a year at Pinstripes”™ 20,000-square-foot SoNo site.
Lest one think of traditional bowling alley fare, Schwartz noted that Pinstripes”™ bistro component includes steak and seafood entrees (most expensive item: an espresso-crusted filet mignon at $32) alongside pasta, sandwiches, pizzas and the like ”” “100% made from scratch,” he said ”” along with a wide-ranging, Italian-influenced wine list.
And if one fears being unable to converse over the noise of crashing pins, the entrepreneur said the sporting areas are separated by layers of soundproofing.
“And our menu is available to bowlers as well ”” if they want some filet and a bottle of wine while they”™re bowling, we can do that,” he said.
The bocce component was added when Schwartz “stumbled across it in Los Gatos,” California, one day, he said, noting that both bowling and bocce leagues are welcome.
But bowling seems to be closest to his heart.
“It”™s always fun,” he said of the sport. “There”™s something way wrong with you if you don”™t like bowling.”
