Nearly two years after winning the top prize of $10,000 on Project Pitch It, the founder of fantasy-themed immersive entertainment venue
The Griffin & Gargoyle, planned in Lake Geneva, is making the call for additional funding to finally get his project off the ground.
The proposed $11 million, 38,000-square-foot project -- inspired by the popular tabletop role-play game Dungeons & Dragons -- was first
unveiled in 2021 by founder Daniel Colwell. The 350-seat eatery and entertainment venue, to be developed on 26 acres along state Highway 120 in Lyons Township, was originally slated for a March 2024 opening, which would have marked 50 years since Dungeons & Dragons was first published by Lake Geneva-based Tactical Studies Rules.
However, that time has come and the project has yet to break ground.
In a recent email and social media post, Colwell explained the biggest hold up has been securing the private equity needed to "bring the project to fruition."
"We have been so close, so many times, to having our financing secured through a variety of potential partners over the past three years but the stars have not yet aligned," he wrote. But that doesn't mean he's pulling the plug on The Griffin & Gargoyle; instead, he's making a pitch for additional support.
There is "universal belief" that the venture's business model is profitable, its location is ideal and that the management and creative team behind the project has what it takes to execute his vision for "an engaging new business model for location-based entertainment," Colwell wrote.
To that end, Griffin & Gargoyle is extending equity offerings to accredited investors, with plans to pool that capital with Reg CF (regulation crowdfunding) as a secondary funding source.
"By combining traditional equity offerings with a Reg CF investment raise, we can seamlessly build the investment package we need to open the portal to the world of The Griffin & Gargoyle," Colwell wrote.
He also called for vocal supporters of the project to continue spreading the word.
In addition to the cash prize from
Project Pitch It in April 2022, Colwell noted several other milestones that have allowed The Griffin & Gargoyle project to keep moving forward despite ongoing funding obstacles. They include building a relationship with Greenwoods State Bank for the project’s SBA 504 and bank construction loans, forging partnerships with Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based architecture firm Shive-Hattery and Reedsburg-based general contractor Friede & Associates, and amassing a following of 17,500 on Facebook and 1,500 on Discord.
