North central Baltimore’s Peabody Heights Brewery is adding a retro video game arcade, which they expect to be completed and open to the public by the end of the year.
Funded in part by a $1.2 million loan from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Neighborhood BusinessWorks program, Peabody Heights Brewery will be repurposing 2,000 square feet of their current space to encompass the arcade, an event space, and a partial performance stage.
The brewery’s arcade will be home to anywhere from 60 to 80 retro video games, boasting some original arcade titles that no other arcades in the area can offer. Some of the expected video games include “Galaga,” “Initial D1,” “Initial D4,” “Dance, Dance, Revolution,” “Pump It Up!,” and “Time Crisis 2.”
All games will be provided by Save Point Games, who are Peabody Heights Brewery’s partner in the arcade venture. The brewery has been in talks with Save Point for the past two years to develop the arcade space.
“We would like to build a space that really welcomes families to our space along with passionate arcade game enthusiasts,” said Eddie O’Keefe, director of marketing at Peabody Heights Brewery, in a statement.
O’Keefe and the team at Peabody Heights Brewery hope that the arcade will renew customer interest in order to offset the financial losses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to O’Keefe, Peabody Heights has been in discussion with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Neighborhood BusinessWorks program about refinancing previous debt. Ninety percent of the $1.2 million loan will go towards restructuring the brewery’s mortgage to match interest rates from early 2022.
Alongside the arcade, the remainder of the loan will go towards refurbishments to the brewery’s bathrooms and taproom.
“We hope that the arcade really sets us apart from other breweries in the area,” O’Keefe said. “Suffice to say, we are so excited about building the space to welcome everyone in.”
