Courtesy / Urban Air
Urban Air Adventure Park includes more than just trampolines.
May 10, 2019
Urban Air Adventure park brings new interest in Bangor's Airport Mall
By Maureen Milliken
Broker Mark Malone, of Malone Commercial Brokers, wasn't getting a lot of interest in the nine empty units at the Airport Mall on Union Street in Bangor.
Then a franchise of Urban Air Adventure Park, a Dallas- based indoor adventure company with trampolines, rock climbing walls and "warrior courses," signed on. There is also a franchise at the Clark's Pond Mall in South Portland.
"Since I've been able to talk about Urban Air, I've been getting a lot of interest," Malone said Thursday. "I wouldn't be surprised if [the mall] was filled by the end of the year."
Urban Air Adventure Park will lease 41,635 square feet at the mall at 1129 Union St. from mall owners Acadia Realty Trust. Malone represented the mall owners and Andrew Callahan, of Boston-based Venture Realty Partners, representing the tenant.
Urban Air said it will open next spring and employ 60.
Elsewhere in Maine, Urban Air has a site at 333 Clarks Pond Parkway in South Portland.
The 240,000-square-foot mall opened in 1970, at the beginning of Maine's indoor mall era. While it's considered an enclosed mall, most of the stores aren't part of the original indoor space.
The space Urban Air is taking had been most recently occupied by Discount Mattress and Furniture, which moved to the former Macy's store space at the Bangor Mall last year and is now Furniture, Mattresses and More.
Malone said finding retail mall tenants is difficult, but it's even harder to find tenants for space that large.
"We're not seeing larger tenants," he said. "That's why I'm so excited."
The space also had something Urban Air needs and can be hard to find — ceilings higher than 20 feet. Originally, the company looked at space Malone has listed in the JFK Plaza in Waterville, but the ceilings were too low.
He said users like Urban Air are better than retailers because of the traffic they drive.
"You can't replicate it on the internet," he said. "You can't buy it on Amazon."
He said the business model, that includes courses similar to those seen on television warrior shows, competitions for adults, birthday party options for kids, rock wall climbing, and more, attracts a wide and varied clientele.
It also attracts other retailers. He said there has been interested from skateboard companies, fitness centers and more since the Urban Air lease became public — "Lots of uses that are connected to this type of thing," he said.
He said younger consumers want experiences and are willing to pay for them.
Family time, active experience
Urban Air said in a news release it caters to families and plans to draw a regional crowd.
“We know families are looking for ways to spend time together – and the more active the experience, the more memorable,” said Urban Air founder and CEO Michael Browning. “Parents want their kids off their phones giving them less ‘screen time,’ and more time to play and engage with other kids their age the old-fashioned way. We’ve got them covered at Urban Air where the focus is on active play for people of all ages."
He said he expects Urban Air to draw from Ellsworth, Waterville and Augusta as well as Bangor and Brewer.
The location will have trampolines, dodgeball courts, obstacle courses, tube playgrounds with multi-level climbing ropes and twisting tubes. It will also have an Urban Air Adventure Hub, which features a ropes course, the Urban Air Sky Rider Indoor Coaster, the Drop Zone, which is an inflatable landing pad perched below a series of trampolines; the Runway Tumble Track which offers flexibility to those who flip, handspring and cartwheel down its track, and Slam Dunk Zone, where customers can slam-dunk basketballs while trampolining; and competitive options, the Urban Warrior Course and and Battle Beam.
The space will also have a cafe with food and beverages.
The mall also has a large Hannaford Supermarket, which he said is another ideal tenant.
Another new lease at the mall is Mattress by Appointment, which signed for 2,000 square feet. Unlike a traditional retail store, Mattress by Appointment does custom mattress sales by appointment only.
Malone said that non-traditional uses are the future for early 1960s and early 70s-era malls like the Airport Mall, which are smaller than the regional malls that were built in the mid-70s and later. The much larger Bangor Mall, across town, has struggled and was recently sold for well under its assessed valuation.
The mall also has a Dollar Store, Ocean States Job Lot, Marshalls, PetPro and a Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles office.
"Being on Union Street, the mall does pretty well," he said. "It's oriented more to the community, rather than the region."
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