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In the next two months, Pinball Pete’s will begin construction at a new location after the City Planning Commission approved the demolition of the complex housing its South University location in August. The arcade signed a new 20-year lease at 500 East Liberty St. in the Carver-Gunn Building and expects to open in 2026. The establishment’s original location will be demolished and replaced by a 17-story high-rise apartment building.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Pinball Pete’s President Ted Arnold said construction is set to start in about 30 to 60 days as plans are submitted to the city.
“Right now we’ve received contractual construction bids and we are just about ready to submit plans to the city and begin construction in the new space,” Arnold said. “(The start date) depends on the planning process with the city. I’m going to say 30 to 60 days, hopefully.”
Scot Greig, the Carver-Gunn Building manager, reached out to Arnold after hearing concerns that the new development on South University would close down Pinball Pete’s permanently. The arcade will replace a former hair salon in the Carver-Gunn Building, utilizing both the street-level floor and the basement.
“(Greig) reached out to me and gave me a tour of the space because he thought it was an ideal fit, and he was right,” Arnold said. “When I told him I was interested in the basement space as well, it was a perfect match because the landlord had never rented that space. It was just sitting there used for storage, and I’ll be able to utilize every inch of it. It was a win-win situation for the landlord and myself.”
Arnold said he hopes Pinball Pete’s will be able to quickly transition from the current location to the East Liberty location after construction is finished.
“We’re being told by the new owners that it should be early 2026, or possibly halfway through 2026,” Arnold said.
LSA junior Uziel Pinarrieta is a Pinball Pete’s customer and told The Daily when he heard of the planned demolition in the spring, he was disappointed that students might lose such an important community space near the University of Michigan’s Central Campus.
“I was really upset,” Pinarrieta said. “It’s really meaningful. It’s an area where we can have fun apart from school. Michigan is very rigorous, and people are always stressed out. Just knowing there’s a place where we can have fun is meaningful to students.”
The current Pinball Pete’s location is underground and accessible by a flight of stairs. Jay Harrison, a long-time Pinball Pete’s arcade attendant, said moving to the new ground-level location will brighten the arcade’s atmosphere.
“There’s going to be more windows, which would be a lot different from what we’re used to because we’ve been underground,” Harrison said. “That should change the atmosphere.”
Arnold said the new space will have old-school carnival games, keeping with Pinball Pete’s signature retro theme.
“We’re also going to bring in some old-school carnival games,” Arnold said. “Some old-school games that nobody’s seen since the late ’60s. It’s going to be decorated with a lot of antique advertising, like neon signs, so it’s going to be really eye-catching.”
Harrison told The Daily he recognizes the nostalgic value of the current location and is expecting the transition to a new location to be difficult for some customers.
“Our business is based on nostalgia and games that come from a different era,” Harrison said. “So you can’t really just buy those things, they’re things that have accumulated over time. We would definitely want to be able to bring those things over to the new location, but people are attached to walking in the doors they walked into when they were younger and bringing kids in the same doors they walked into. Going over to another store, it’s going to be different.”
Daily Staff Reporter Christina Zhang can be reached at zchristi@umich.edu
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