Georgetown Park lands Pinstripes bowling alley venue

Pinstripes Inc., a company based in the Chicago area that operates restaurants combined with bowling alleys and bocce courts, has completed negotiations to open at The Shops at Georgetown Park, its first D.C. location.

It the latest tenant to be added to the mall as Vornado Realty Trust repositions the property at 3222 M St. NW.

Pinstripes said Friday it has signed a lease for 34,000 square feet on the first and second floors, overlooking the C&O Canal, and will open in November. The company expects to start interior and exterior work on the space in July.

“The Shops at Georgetown Park is a first-class development well-suited for our sophisticated entertainment venue,” Pinstripes CEO Dale Schwartz said in a statement. “We look forward to introducing ‘strikingly good food and fun’ to the Georgetown and surrounding communities.”

The Georgetown Park location will be the fifth for Pinstripes, followed by a sixth scheduled to open in Kansas in May 2014.

The concept is a blend of entertainment and Italian and American cuisine. The Georgetown version will include 14 bowling lanes, six bocce courts, a bistro and wine cellar, outdoor patios and event space that can hold as many as 600 people.

Pinstripes is one of several new merchants coming to Georgetown Park. Vornado and its local Vornado/Charles E. Smith division have been working for more than a year to reposition the center from an indoor-oriented mall to a mix of larger-format stores with individual entrances.

“We are delighted to welcome Pinstripes,” Vornado/Charles E. Smith President Mitchell Schear said in a statement. “We could not have asked for a better entertainment partner to complement our redevelopment vision and the great vibrancy of the Georgetown neighborhood.”

Pinstripes announced last fall it had reached a tentative deal to open at Georgetown Park, pending regulatory and community approvals. Despite some initial concern about neighborhood impact, the company was able to win over Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Commissioner Bill Starrels said he believes the company will be a good addition to the neighborhood.

“We enthusiastically welcome Pinstripes to the Georgetown neighborhood,” Starrels said in a statement. “We are very pleased about Georgetown being the first expansion location for Pinstripes on the East Coast, and we look forward to the opening in the very near future.”

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