Businessman plans $110 million entertainment complex in southwest Las Vegas

If Troy Freeman has his way, almost 20 acres of vacant land in the southwest valley will be transformed into an entertainment complex by spring 2015.

Freeman’s planned $110 million project is titled Twenty3’s, named for the day his vision was hatched: March 23, 2008.

Since then he’s been crafting his dream, lining up investors and gaining experience.

Now he’s ready to let the world in.

Freeman’s vision is a family friendly venue during the day and early evening, with a focus on the 21 and over crowd at night.

His complex is slated to have a downstairs restaurant a la TGI Fridays and a second-level eatery on par with the Cheesecake Factory.

A fan-shaped bowling alley on the first floor and another on the second level will provide 46 lanes, while 12 movie theaters will be equipped with bars.

An arcade will have 150 games, and a day care complex will assist parents. A 400-seat venue will be available for concerts, high school events and other community uses.

“This is that project that really reaches out to different people at different levels,” Freeman said.

Next door to the entertainment complex Freeman plans to build a hotel with 100 Hilton Garden Inn rooms and 80 Home2 Suites by Hilton. He is working on the contract for the hotel partnership, and he also wants to partner with a celebrity chef to open a rooftop restaurant and lounge.

Freeman is buying 19.73 acres of vacant land at Sunset Road and Durango Drive from SDSW 2 LLC for about $14.5 million. The deal is expected to close Dec. 17. The site has no address yet; Freeman plans to request the address of 8823 W. Sunset Road from Clark County.

The majority of the funding for Freeman’s 175,000-square-foot project is coming from a California bank loan, and the rest is coming from 19 individual investors.

He’s using Orlando, Fla.-based Maverick Architecture & Design and is eyeing a spring 2015 opening.

The day care is the only part of the property Freeman and his company won’t run; it will be leased to a tenant.

Freeman, 35, is a 17-year veteran of the banking and investment industry, working most recently as a business banker.

While holding down his day job, he operated BlockBuster Cocktails for 18 months until June 30. The company was in charge of the alcohol concessions at what was then Rave Motion Pictures at Town Square, 6587 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

When AMC bought the theater in January, the company decided not to continue the lease. BlockBuster Cocktails is now defunct.

When Freeman conceived the idea for his complex in 2008, he was driving to work, depressed because the financial markets were crashing.

He was listening to Chet Buchanan on 98.5 KLUC, who was asking listeners what Las Vegas doesn’t have but should.

The resounding answers were Cracker Barrel and Dave & Busters.

Freeman called around and tried to franchise the latter, but the company wasn’t selling franchises at the time.

He started coming up with his own idea, and the concept for Twenty3’s was born.

“If it wasn’t for (Buchanan,) I wouldn’t be able to open up,” Freeman said.

While Freeman is at the helm of the project, he won’t run day-to-day operations. He has hired two industry people to do that, but he wouldn’t disclose their names.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.