Photo / Courtesy Minibar LLC
Kevin Moschella with his wife Jamie and son Aiden at 265 Marginal Way in Portland, 15,288 square feet of space is being renovated as an indoor mini-golf course, bar and restaurant.
Updated: January 27, 2025
Indoor mini-golf course, bar and restaurant on tap for Marginal Way in Portland
Courtesy/ Dunham Group
A former World Gym was subdivided into two suites that now have tenants.
A journalist-turned-finance-professional is making another unusual turn in his career with the development of an indoor mini-golf course, bar and restaurant in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood.
Minibar LLC leased 15,288 square feet of retail space at 265 Marginal Way from Diamond Street LLC.
Justin Lamontagne from the Dunham Group represented the landlord, while Cameron Foster and Reese McFarland from the Boulos Co. represented the tenant.
Subdivided space
According to the Dunham Group, highlights for the property include proximity to I-295, as well as good visibility, open concept floor plan, 14-foot ceilings, natural light and 100-plus on-site parking spaces.
Interest in the space “was consistent and varied, given the outstanding location, parking and flexibility of the space,” said Lamontagne.
Another business, Salud Studios, leased 14,820 square feet of retail space in the other half of the building. Lamontagne also brokered that lease.
The property’s owner and developer is the Cardente Family. Michael Cardente is a representative for the family.
The building, which totals about 52,000 square feet, was built as a shoe factory in the early 1950s, said Cardente. His parents bought the building in the early 1970s, performed upgrades, had their own business in part of it and leased the rest.
The 30,000 square feet located closest to Marginal Was was most recently leased by World Gym.
When the space became vacant, the original intent was to bring in a single tenant for the entire 30,000 square feet, Cardente said. That proved problematic.
“The former World Gym, at nearly 30,000 square feet, was simply too large for most retailer- light industrial-users that we were marketing to,” Lamontagne said.
The Cardentes decided to divide the space into two suites, which attracted a lot of interest and offers, said Michael Cardente.
“Subdividing the space into two suites was expensive, but ultimately the right decision,” said Lamontagne. “Long-term, the property is extremely well positioned to help these businesses thrive.”
The Cardente family has a number of properties in the neighborhood and tenants tend to stay for 15 to 20 years.
“It was about finding the right tenants that had synergy with the other things we do in the neighborhood,” Cardente said.
‘Well-thought-out’ plan
Minibar LLC is led by Kevin Moschella.
“This is not part of a chain and it is a totally new venture for me as my background is in finance and, before that journalism, but I'm working with a great team of architects, designers, contractors and restaurant consultants to serve as advisors and implementers,” Moschella said.
Foster credited Moschella with having a well-thought-out business plan, projections and readily available personal financials to pull together the deal.
The search included narrowing in on an area from the Saco-Biddeford area to Freeport, as well as the type of building and car/foot traffic desired, Foster said.
After a few months of planning, the former World Gym space became available for lease.
“Finding climate-controlled warehouse space in a good location is a hard asset to find,” said Foster. “Climate control means that the space has cooling and heating function. The warehouse market is already very tight (high demand, low inventory). When you add a requirement of ‘climate control’ it becomes a near impossible search. This one really came down to timing and working with a commercial brokerage.”
Foster noted that his team had previously worked with the landlord and landlord’s brokers, Mike Cardente and Justin Lamontagne respectively, which helped get Moschella in the door.
“By executing on commercial leases year over year, our team has a good ‘playbook' for what a landlord may want to see prior to executing a lease,” he added.
Not just mini-golf
Moschella said the business will be called minibar, with a lower-case “m.”
“It will be for all ages, but it will be a great place to go for young adults and families as it will be a sports bar with multiple TVs throughout, a sports-themed mini-golf course, a full bar (including boozy and non-alcoholic milk shakes) and quality pub fare” such as North Shore roast beef sandwiches, lobster roll sliders, arancini balls, fried mac cheese balls and caprese skewers, he said.
Of the 15,000-square-foot space, 9,000 square feet will be the mini-golf course. The kitchen will be 1,000 square feet and seating will take up 3,000 square feet.
Plans call for hosting mini-golf leagues and tournaments as well as private events, trivia nights and other happenings.
Drawing/ Courtesy Minibar LLC, COST of Wisconsin Inc.
COST of Wisconsin Inc. provided the design of the minigolf course.
“The space will have some outdoor seating as well, and will include some other fun activities such as cornhole, limited arcade games and more,” he said.
Moschella said the location is advantageous because of its easy access to I-295, the Eastern Promenade walking trail, parking “and all the great breweries/distilleries in the area like Rising Tide, Austin Street, Apres, Freedom's Edge Cider, Lone Pine, Three of Strong Spirits, etc.”
The build-out is underway and the goal is to open by early June.
The architect is Stephanie Lull from SRL Architects in Portland. The kitchen designer is Tom McArdle from TJM Consulting in Yarmouth.
Chef Josh Berry and Maggie Knowles who own a Yarmouth company called the B Frame, are serving as restaurant consultants. Paula Mahony from Words@Work is providing marketing support. The general contractor is Shane Bradstreet from Bradstreet Builders in Portland.
COST of Wisconsin Inc., a theme and specialty construction firm based in Jackson, Wisc., is providing the mini-golf course design and build team.
Investment into the start-up is expected to be in the $1 million to $1.5 million range, most coming from bank financing and $200,000 to $300,000 from personal funds.
Career pivots
Hailing from Salem, N.H., Moschella started his career working as a reporter at the Boston Globe, then became sports editor at the Derry News in New Hampshire.
When he started a family, it became clear that the hours and the money going along with sports journalism were not ideal.
Living in Massachusetts the past 17 years, he went to work at a series of health care companies, first providing services in writing, editing and webinar production, then moving into business operations. He returned to school for professional studies in accounting, and achieved the position of senior director of finance.
“It’s definitely been a journey,” he said. “One that I never envisioned when I was in high school and college. It’s paid off really well. I enjoyed helping to solve problems.”
In the last handful of years, he realized it was time to change his career trajectory, adding: “I was in my late 30s, thinking, 'What do I want to do for the next 10 or 20 years of my life?'”
An idea sparks
A couple of years ago, he and his wife and son were playing mini-golf. It was a nice Sunday in June and the place was packed. The family found themselves waiting forever at the second hole.
“There were, like, 10 people in front of us,” he said.
There was a nearby ice cream shop, but it wasn’t part of the course.
“I said, I wouldn’t mind waiting if we could sit here and have a drink or have some ice cream or if we could watch the Masters Tournament on TV,” he recalled.
The idea percolated. He did some research and found there were mini-golf places that also included other attractions.
“It became more and more of a reality,” he said. “I just got excited about it.”
About a year ago, he began to write a business plan and decided to start looking at potential locations.
Maine was an obvious suspect; the couple enjoyed spending part of the year in Portland and had been planning to retire there one day.
“My wife and I got engaged in downtown Portland,” he said. “When we first started dating, she worked up here a lot for her job. She loves the beach and wanted to be close to the ocean.”
Gut reno
Now work is underway to convert the former gym at 265 Marginal Way into a mini-golf course and an adjacent storage area into a kitchen and restaurant.
The gut renovation including knocking down walls and installing new plumbing and siding.
“We’re building from scratch,” he said.
The custom-designed, 18-hole course will be laid over the existing concrete floor. Moschella was in Wisconsin in early December to finalize plans for the course layout, which will include sports themes such as a hockey hole where golfers have to putt past hockey-stick barriers and a skiing hole that has slalom-gate barriers.
“We want to have a fun atmosphere and really be a draw on our own,” he said. “But we also know there are people bouncing around Portland, so we want to be a stop as they’re walking around and having fun.”
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