Bowling kingpin scores big

A newly opened bowling center nearly the size of a football field is about to get even bigger.

Patrick Ciniello, the Naples-based chairman of bowling equipment giant QubicaAMF, says he's acquired two acres on the north side of HeadPinz in Fort Myers. When it opened near Southwest Florida International Airport in July, the 48,000-square-foot HeadPinz was an instant hit with families and corporate event planners. It has 28 lanes of bowling, 45 arcade games, a two-story laser tag arena, an aerial ropes course, a restaurant and a bar.

“It exceeded our original projections,” says Ciniello. “It's done very well since the day it opened.”

Ciniello is keeping expansion details confidential, but he says what he plans to do there will fit well. He's also converting existing bowling alleys he owns into entertainment destinations that are rebranded with the HeadPinz name. “The bowling is still our staple, but we're adding the entertainment diversification,” he says.

For example, Ciniello converted an existing bowling alley into a HeadPinz in Cape Coral and he's doing the same thing now at a bowling alley in Naples. The Naples facility has land around it and Ciniello says he's eyeing an expansion there, too. “That may entail additional buildings,” he hints.