First Look: Pizza, Pints, and Playtime at Pindustry

Don't miss this all-in-one Greenwood Village destination.

Pindustry
Courtesy of Pindustry
Courtesy of Pindustry

More than 54,500 square feet with a 2,300-person capacity. A sprawling rooftop deck. Bowling lanes. An old-school arcade. Table games galore. A pizza kitchen. Not one but two bars, plus a beer garden with a stage for live music every weekend. And so much more. How’s that for a post-pandemic game plan?

So far, a popular one, according to Bob Koontz, the affable principal of local real-estate management and investment firm Kelmore Development, which conceived and designed the new Greenwood Village complex Pindustry. “We really haven’t done any advertising, and it’s been crazy busy” since the soft opening in late June, he says. “After two and a half weeks [in business], our Thursdays are looking like Fridays—so we’re smoking.”

Pindustry interior
Courtesy of Pindustry

That’s really no surprise given the relative dearth of options for adult recreation in the DTC (Denver Tech Corridor). Having been an early developer of commercial property in the area, the Kelmore team watched as “it grew significantly over the years,” Koontz explains. “There’s [already] 43 million square feet of office space all around us and millions of square feet of retail to the south of us”—and if adding more “made sense 30 years ago, maybe it wouldn’t going forward.” To breathe some nightlife into Greenwood Village instead, they joined the city council in creating the Arapahoe Entertainment District back in 2019, with Pindustry set to lead the way.

The concept began with an old auto service property “prime for redevelopment,” Koontz says, whose proximity to the light rail and Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre “certainly gives it the potential to be the most walkable area” on the south side of town. As Kelmore began researching the nationwide trend toward what he terms “bartainment or eatertainment,” the diversity of venues they found inspired them to “take pieces of some of the best ideas that we saw and put them together in one collection.” The result: “broader activities in one venue than we’ve seen anywhere else.”

Pindustry pizza
Courtesy of Pindustry

Putting the exposed metal-and-brick architecture of its former occupant to good use, the cavernous warehouse space revels in its retro ambiance, with vintage advertisements and quirky signage decking the walls amid the glow of chandeliers, industrial light fixtures, and, of course, plenty of neon. Anchoring it all are the bowling lanes—both ten-pin and duckpin—along with the arcade, which is seemingly endless. There’s pinball and more pinball. There’s your classic assortment of video games, including Pac-Man, Asteroids, and Centipede. There are ping-pong tables and pool tables and foosball tables and dartboards. There’s a life-size chess board and a cornhole arena on the Sky Deck (as the rooftop is called). And true to the adult-carnival vibe, “a couple of games are good for redemption prizes—Skee-Ball, basketball hoops—but instead of stuffed animals, the prizes are pizzas or beverages, a craft beer or glass of wine,” says Koontz.

Speaking of food and drink, he points out that Pindustry “is not a sports bar. We wanted broad appeal [in the offerings].” Certainly the cocktail list goes beyond the basics, what with concoctions like the La Dolce Mela—combining vodka, cream Sherry, Aperol, Fuji apple gomme, and lime—and the Great Scott with toasted coconut–infused bourbon, China-China Amer, and chocolate bitters. Meanwhile, the beer selection covers Colorado’s greatest hits (think Dry Dock Apricot Blonde, Avery White Rascal, and Denver Beer Co.’s Graham Cracker Porter), and the wine list, while hardly geeky, offers plenty more than just the “red or white” you might expect.

Pindustry pizza
Courtesy of Pindustry

As for the menu, Koontz is not gonna lie about the staffing shortage: “We opened with three guys in the kitchen; that was the best we could do.” So for now, pizza is what you’re getting—not that there’s anything wrong with that, especially given the wide array of specialty combos with toppings like ’nduja and smoked scamorza, brussels sprouts and green chiles, garlic cream and fig honey. (Not all together.) Soon, however, the options will expand to charcuterie boards and salads, and eventually, ciabatta sandwiches and elaborate savory toasts will enter the picture; brunch service complete with egg-topped breakfast pizzas is also on the docket. 

In the meantime, the record high score you got on that Star Wars pinball machine when you were 12 isn’t going to beat itself, so go grab yourself a glass of any of Pindustry’s 50 available whiskeys and make it happen.

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Ruth Tobias is probably doing shots of jugo de limón y chile right now. Find out by following her @Denveater.